Plant Services - May 2008 - (Page 21) CRISIS CORNER Insiders, outsiders We are going to need them all (www.hermangroup.com), in her recent SkillTV.net intern its 2008-2009 Occupational Outlook Handbook, the view. “Workers that they thought would never leave them U.S. Department of Labor predicts that, between 2006 are now targets for other companies struggling to locate and 2016, an annual average of 27,000 electricians will qualified talent to hire.” be necessary to accommodate growth in the industry and to I thank Chuck Kooistra, vice president of General Physics replace those who are leaving the workforce (a turnover rate (www.gpworldwide.com), for pointing out the advantages of nearly 27%). of nepotism. Like most, I cringe at the mere mention of the These figures (at www.bls.gov/oco/home.htm) are for word, having dealt with owners’ kids getting opportunities electricians only. What about mechanics, maintenance and privileges over hard-working, deserving employees. managers and facilities managers? We’re going to need hunHowever, I recently taught a class on the aging workforce dreds of thousands of them as well. attended by two maintenance managers from a coal mine in As we enter the geezer-bust (the term baby boomer no North Dakota. I shared with them Chuck’s longer seems appropriate), and the transfer of ideas about nepotism. They said their presiresponsibility to future generations of workers Fat, dumb and dent won’t allow nepotism in their company, continues, we need to reevaluate how we reand that the topic isn’t even open for discuscruit, develop and retain skilled workers. Pete happy (FDH) Little, president of MPACT Learning Center syndrome drives sion. But the closest community has only 5,000 people. Hiring only one member of a (www.mpactlearning.com), says to identify complacency family means potentially overlooking several your best candidates from other departments and satisfaction capable workers, and they might have gotten – ones with good conduct records, attendance the dullest of the bunch. and attitudes – and develop their technical with the Businesses need to overcome not just racial skills. He is a strong proponent of “pay for status quo. or gender prejudices, but also location or eduskills” systems as opposed to seniority. With cation affiliation biases. It blows me away to the pressures businesses are facing, companies see a company not hire a qualified worker because he or she need to boost skill sets by enforcing “skill up or move out” went to a sports rival high school or college, but it happens performance policies. every day. Personally, I had to think long and hard before Steve Bean, maintenance manager for RF Micro Devices accepting a job to work for a Duke grad, being a former (www.rfmd.com), says he evaluates new hires for three charCarolina undergrad. He turned out to the best boss I have acteristics: character, motivation and technical competency. ever worked for. Part of the reason I’m so passionate about He says the first two are mandatory and the technical skills the maintenance crisis is that I know that as he retires in are optional because they can be boosted with on-the-job the coming years, few are coming up to replace his level of experience and formal training. technical competency, attention to detail and intellectual Too many companies are frustrated with the complacency capacity in the engineering field. of existing workers. As I call it, fat, dumb and happy (FDH) Perhaps many of our society’s self-inflicted ills and ansyndrome drives complacency and satisfaction with the statiquated approaches can go away as more strive to win tus quo. With the entire world wanting the same rights and the battle against the maintenance crisis. I hope you’ve privileges that U.S. workers take for granted, to compete, emvisited and enjoyed the online video and audio files at ployers need more poor, hungry and driven (PHD) workers SkillTV.net, and thank you for all of your feedback and to innovate and strive to implement new strategies. continued support! Sadly, many companies’ recruitment, development and retention policies don’t reflect current and future realities. “Companies are going to face problems like they never had E-mail Contributing Editor Joel Leonard at before,” says Joyce Gioia, president of the Herman Group leonard.joel@mpactlearning.com. May 2008 www.PLANTSERVICES.com 21 I http://www.hermangroup.com http://SkillTV.net http://www.gpworldwide.com http://www.bls.gov/oco/home.htm http://www.mpactlearning.com http://www.rfmd.com http://www.PLANTSERVICES.com
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