By: Glenn Laga, Founder & President, Guardian Data Destruction

It’s always challenging to talk about changes in pricing especially if you’re in a commodity service where pennies can make or break the job. And let’s face it, no one ever wants to hear about pricing that is going up. But we are sure that you’ve noticed market conditions changed from COVID that may be affecting your service providers’ bottom line.
So, while avoiding the politics of WHY?, here are some post-COVID cost factors that may be showing up on your recent quotes and contracts:   

Finding and hiring qualified help

It’s not just fast food that is desperate for workers (the Starbucks near us just decided to temporarily shut down due to a labor shortage), nearly every commercial truck, retailer and restaurant has a “hiring” sign. CDL (commercial driver’s license) personnel are at a premium and skilled workers are starting at higher rates than ever before. 

Gas prices are skyrocketing

Lots of drivers safely returning the road, fear of mass transit, halt in domestic production  and international gas relations have combined forces to push up the prices at the gas pump. For services that are onsite like data destruction or involve hauling, shipping and delivery (i.e., recycling, redeployment, warehousing)  expect to see gas surcharges until the oil market stabilizes. Even your grocery bills are higher just because it costs more to transport.

Health and safety

After almost two years, all those COVID health and safety precautions add up to greater costs. Whether it’s masks, gloves, disinfectants, spacing, shields, additional vehicles, lengthier work hours to accommodate safe distancing, testing, loss of work, time keeping up with the ups and downs of local, state and federal regulations and of course incentivizing vaccines within the company, the (still-accumulating) bill is an expense that companies may have to pass along.

Supply chain delays

We’ve been warned:  Santa Claus better shop early this year because the global supply chain is really, really, delayed. Full cargo ships are unable to unload due to lack of planning and a shortage of port workers, drivers and logistics personnel who have retired, switched careers or simply chosen not to return to work. This global shortage of workers to create, ship, load and load is creating strange pockets of unavailability and hiking up the costs of standard business items like bubble wrap, plastic wrap and pallets.

Project backlogs

If you were one of the companies or project managers that said, “Hey, let’s wait a bit and see what happens” during COVID and that few weeks delay turned into months and even more than a year, you’re not alone. There is a tremendous backlog of data destruction, logistics and data center projects that have been on hold as corporations pull personnel back into offices, reconfigure their teams, consolidate data centers and/or move to the cloud. 

Leased office and data centers

​It looks like a lot of people are not going back to the office for a while. And, for some, maybe never. This is dramatically changing the way both IT and property managers are using their space. Data centers are moving and consolidating, office environments are closing and heading to the cloud creating new costs. Creating online communities that embrace a home-based workforce is replacing large, leased office space and creating a larger demand for internet bandwidth, storage and new technologies.

The only palatable reason customers accept a price increase is because costs went up. No one likes it, but it’s understandable because you’re seeing it all around you — the supermarket, the gas station, the restaurant and payroll. Everyone, everywhere, is feeling the effects of COVID impacting the economy.

The reality

Just like many businesses around the world right now, Guardian is in the process of evaluating the impact of these unexpected costs and inflation. The delta cost of fuel is an easy one to calculate. The added cost of people is more challenging.

We’re working with our management team, vendors and customers to find creative solutions while ensuring that our core values and customer pledge of a secure, transparent process and honest, fair pricing continue to reflect Guardian’s best-in-class service and appreciation for our partners. We remain your trusted supplier for secure, compliant and absolute data destruction, data center services and IT packing and logistics.
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If you have a question or some thoughts about on COVID impacting pricing for your business, we’d like to hear from you. Send us an email here.

By: NPZ Law Group, P.C.

Under the 2019 published final rule by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, an electronic H-1B registration process has been implemented which requires a $10.00 registration fee for the cases that will have to be filed by the April 1st, 2022 cap season deadline.  One of the main goals under this regulation is to conduct the H-1B lottery before accepting petitions so that prospective H-1B employers know (in advance) if the case will be selected in the lottery before submitting a full and complete H-1B filing to the USCIS.

This Q&A below is adapted from information available about the H-1B program and has been modified to provide prospective H-1B employers and H-1B employees with guidance about how to prepare for the registration process for the 2022 H-1B nonimmigrant Visa Petition cap season.


Question: What is H-1B cap registration?Answer: It is a USCIS electronic registration process for prospective petitioners seeking to file H-1B cap-subject petitions.


Question: Who is covered by this electronic H-1B registration rule?Answer: The registration is only for prospective cap-subject petitions (i.e. not for cap-exempt employers such as universities or qualified research institutions nor, employees who have been already counted against the cap).


Question: When will the H-1B nonimmigrant Visa registration period begin?Answer: The process is “rolled out” as follows:

1. The initial registration period starts at least 30 days in advance (Beginning of March);

2. Initial registration period will begin at least 14 days before the first day of petition filing (April 1) and will last at least 14 calendar days;

3. If selected, a prospective H-1B employer has at least 90 days to file H-1B petition; and

4. USCIS may re-open registration at anytime (there would be no notice required).


Question: What is the government’s filing fee to register?Answer: There is a $10.00 non-refundable registration fee for each beneficiary.


Question: What information will be required by prospective H-1B employers and prospective H-1B employees to register for the electronic H-1B registration program?Answer: Following information will be required as part of the H-1B electronic registration program:

1. Full name

2. Date of birth

3. Country of birth

4. Citizenship

5. Passport number

6. Gender

7. An employer attestation that there is a bona fide temporary job offer for which the prospective H-1B employer intends to file an H-1B petition


Question: How many registrations can be submitted by a prospective H-1B employer for a prospective H-1B employee? 
Answer: An employer can submit one electronic registration for each prospective H-1B employee. Any prospective H-1B employer must submit a separate registration for each prospective H-1B employee it seeks to register. No duplicates will be permitted. However, it is important to note that multiple employers can submit one H-1B electronic registration on behalf of the same prospective H-1B employee.


Question: What happens if a duplicate electronic registration is submitted submitted for any prospective H-1B employee? 
Answer: If an H-1B employer submits a duplicate or multiple H-1B electronic registration for the same prospective H-1B employee, all registrations for the prospective H-1B employee will be rejected. However, a prospective H-1B may have multiple prospective H-1B employers submit electronic registration forms on their behalf.


Question: Will a prospective H-1B employer be required to provide information about the offered position in the initial H-1B electronic filing? 
Answer: Information about the position to be offered to the prospective H-1B nonimmigrant will not be required to be initially submitted but it is important to assess the requirements for the position and the qualifications of the employee to ensure that a prospective non-frivolous H-1B petition will be filed.


Question: Is the employer required to establish eligibility for H-1B status when submitting the registration? 
Answer: No, if the petition is selected in the the H-1B visa lottery then the prospective H-1B employer will be required to provide information about the employer organization and the specialty occupation position being offered to the prospective H-1B nonimmigrant employee.


Question: Is a Labor Condition Application (LCA) required to be filed with Department of Labor before the H-1B electronic registration can be filed? 
Answer: No, but the Labor Condition Application (LCA) preparation ahead of time will certainly be advisable including determining the prevailing wage, posting, and filing with the DOL before the electronic H-1B registration occurs to ensure the prospective H-1B employer organization has a certified LCA if selected and submission of the application can occur within a short time of the resulting H-1B electronic lottery results notification.


Question: Does the prospective H-1B nonimmigrant professional and specialty occupation employer get a receipt upon completion of the electronic registration process? 
Answer: A confirmation number will be assigned by the USCIS which will be a different number from the USCIS receipt number.


Question: How will the electronic H-1B lottery be conducted? 
Answer: USCIS will first conduct the lottery for the 65,000 numbers and include all registrations. USCIS will then conduct a second lottery for the 20,000 numbers reserved for U.S. advanced degree holder registrations. This process change was designed to increase the chances of prospective H-1B employees with a master’s or higher degree from a U.S. institution of higher education to an estimated 16% (or 5,340 workers).



Question: What does the prospective H-1B nonimmigrant Visa employer supposed to do once they receive information that a prospective H-1B nonimmigrant has been chosen in the lottery and been allotted an H-1B visa number? 
Answer: The next step after the lottery has been conducted is for the prospective H-1B employer to prepare and to file the H-1B petition with the USCIS. The prospective H-1B employers will be given 90 days to file petitions for selected employees.


Question: Because of the low barrier to entry by paying a nominal fee of $10.00 per registration, what measures has USCIS put in place to deter frivolous applications? 
Answer: USCIS has confirmed that it intends to monitor the electronic registration system for prospective H-1B employers who submit a large number of H-1B registrations and then later file only a few selected petitions at a significantly lower rate.


Question: May an attorney submit an electronic H-1B registration for a prospective H-1B employer and prospective H-1B employee?Answer: Yes, attorney will be able to file electronic H-1B registrations for their clients using the Form G-28, Notice of Entry of Appearance as Attorney.


Question: How are the electronic registration fees supposed to be paid?Answer: Payment for electronic H-1B registrations must be received on the government website at www.pay.gov via ACH or credit card.


Question: Will the government accept cashier’s check or money order for the electronic H-1B registration fee?
Answer: Cash, certified (bank) checks, and/or money orders is prohibited.
 
Question: What is the benefit of working with prospective H-1B nonimmigrants to prepare the documents and LCA before a potential notification that a prospective H-1B employee was selected in the electronic registration lottery system? 
Answer: According to USCIS guidance, H-1B petitions - chosen in the electronic registration process - submitted at the beginning of the 90-day period will be adjudicated first. OPT cap-gap planning is required to minimize interruptions in work authorization before October 1st. Careful contingency planning for cap-gap cases is necessary as new electronic registration applications will NOT result in cap-gap benefits unless they are selected. Prospective H-1B employers must carefully review all cases thoroughly to ensure that cap-gap cases are timely filed if chosen in the electronic registration process.


Question: are there any other strategic consideration that prospective H-1B employers need to consider for the upcoming H-1B cap season? 
Answer: Prospective H-1B employers may want to consider advancing the recruiting timeline by at least three months to identify prospective H-1B employees who will need H-1B cap sponsorship by late November or early December.

For more information about the H-1B professional and specialty occupation work visa, please feel free to contact us at 201-670-0006 (x107). For more information about the H-1B process please feel free to visit our website at http://www.visaserve.com

Our Client Relations Manager can be emailed directly at [email protected] Our U.S. Immigration and Nationality Lawyers and Attorneys would be pleased to assist you with employment based, family based, and individual immigration matters.
 
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By: Yasser Seoud, Managing Partner North Lead – Canada, AIMS International
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Leaders of our era are facing unprecedented challenges that continue to amplify at an exceptionally aggressive pace. In modern business records, very few generations of leaders have experienced such a high frequency of challenges, with no lunch breaks in between. 

Despite these challenges, most of us leaders are still hanging on to a desire to overcome these intense tests and live a compelling and noteworthy life. One that is characterized by depth, passion, boldness, one that creates a lasting impact, and contributes to the world’s needs with what our talent can provide.

To achieve that in such difficult times, we need to continuously self-reflect with our emotions, reactions, and sense of judgment. We will need other people to help us, and we must convince them that they should invest in our common cause. We must be human and take the leadership of our own lives before leading other people. Our teams and stakeholders would only support us if we believed in them at a certain point in time before they believed in us. This process starts only when we start believing in ourselves, conquer our self-doubt and reject the lies of negativity. We should promote people into leadership roles because of their competencies, vision, empathy, humility, and integrity. 

Unfortunately, this is not necessarily the criteria with which all  of our leaders are chosen and recruited today.

Through the global economy’s ups and downs in the last two decades, I have experienced many incompetent leaders who succeed to fool themselves first into believing in their own capabilities. Once this task is accomplished, in most cases, they can fool other people too. 
Throughout my 25 year international career, I have dealt with a diverse bouquet of challenges in multiple sectors and geographical markets. Ironically, I witnessed in many cases how being unaware of your true competencies increases your probability of being a manager. People mistakenly confuse confidence for competence. I found the best leaders who excel in their leadership performance to be down-to-earth rather than pseudo charismatic; they are women and men who act with integrity and are outstanding communicators. They do not see leadership as an entitlement exempt from empathy or self-control, and they do not consider themselves as the person in charge. Instead, they are the one who takes care of others which is the real job of a leader. 

During my time as country director UK for a multinational organization in the aftermath of the 2008 economic crisis, we traveled from all four corners of the globe to our European head office’s home city for our annual meeting. All 350 decision-makers from all over the globe couldn’t wait to listen to the CEO’s views on the crisis. We hoped to hear some good or even bad news that puts an end to the daily operational and strategic uncertainties we have been experiencing throughout the year. The situation was so intense that  certain managers lost control of their emotions, screaming or crying in the presence of their teams as they were lost for answers. On the last day, after three days of workshops, meetings, and activities, and while everyone was waiting for the CEO’s final speech – the leader’s message to his global team – he did not show up on time and was nowhere to be found. Directors and VPs were sitting there waiting, looking at the colossal presentation screen and gossiping about his whereabouts.

Many heads turned towards the main entrance of the impressive beach hotel ballroom where the event was held when a colleague came in announcing that our CEO was spotted at the hotel lobby checking out and heading towards an airport limousine. In a matter of seconds, our youngest and most athletic team members were at the hotel entrance talking to the CEO and “escorting” him back to the stage to address the anxious audience. The less said about his forced speech, the better. We all wished that he did just leave for the airport. His decision of avoidance and procrastination revealed that despite his education and 20+ years of experience, he was not yet ready to be a leader. His poor actions on that day proved to be a turning point in his career and the organization’s future.

Just as this has been an experience of incompetent leadership in times of crisis we frequently witness executives who do not believe in themselves and are incapable of transmitting confidence to their teams. People in charge who submit themselves to self-doubt adopt a distant, authoritarian management culture when they should be doing the opposite. During challenging times, leaders should communicate more intensely and transparently with their teams and be as close to them as possible. It is perfectly alright to authentically share your emotions with your team if needed without overdoing it; your team will feel the connection and will be more likely to believe your words.

But why do we have so many incompetent leaders in charge? There is one main straightforward answer to this question, the inefficient – or sometimes non-existent- search, selection, and onboarding processes. I have continuously seen competitive juniors who are trained to perform better in their jobs when they excel, they are promoted and they become responsible for other people who do the same job. However, in many cases, when they are promoted, they do not receive the proper training for their new role. That of a leader. In most cases, decision-makers just assume that because they were as good as the juniors, they would excel as leaders and would know how to lead their teams. Why wouldn’t they? They have been there. Well, in reality, it takes much more than just excellent operational performance to be a leader and to navigate through challenging times. These are the leaders who have successfully led their teams from within to overcome one challenge after the other, those are the leaders who authentically lead themselves, who are the most genuine, courageous, resilient, passionate, and humble.

Finding the right leader requires a search team that understands what it takes to lead, ideally led by a former successful executive leader. Experience and having been an executive leader in various contexts contribute  greatly to the right choice of a future leader. Having an extensive multisector global network, and efficient tech-based research and processes are crucial factors to guarantee the selection of transformational leaders who can and will manage challenges successfully.