keeping good employees in a downturn.
keeping good employees in a downturn.
(OP)
This just posted in defense review.
B.E.
http://www.defensenews.com/article/20120715/DEFREG...
B.E.
http://www.defensenews.com/article/20120715/DEFREG...
The good engineer does not need to memorize every formula; he just needs to know where he can find them when he needs them. Old professor





RE: keeping good employees in a downturn.
RE: keeping good employees in a downturn.
Cheers
Greg Locock
New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?
RE: keeping good employees in a downturn.
Love the use of the word 'disappeared', as if they were beamed up by aliens, rather than the more truthful; 'got rid of because they were expensive, and management didn't appreciate what in-depth knowledge they had of the process and thought any high school graduate could do the job (if not a trained monkey)'.
RE: keeping good employees in a downturn.
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: keeping good employees in a downturn.
Despite what many on here think I do not know anyone who enjoys having to let people go and the vast majority of owners I know feel the same as I do that it is the worst part of owning a business.
Even if you do the best you can and take large cuts yourself and effectively subsidise people during a down turn in order to keep a strong work force you still face the risk that they will up and leave when the good times return as someone else who let people go early on is in a position to offer higher wages and you end up taking a double hit.
Of course it is always easy to criticise others when you do not have to come up with a viable alternative. Personally I have no idea of the best way of keeping a happy and skilled work force together whilst at the same time ensuring the financial well being of the company during a down turn.
I would be interested to hear the views of anyone who has.
RE: keeping good employees in a downturn.
That's of course all the positive stuff. On the negative side, what we get as a reward for our generosity during slow times is an accumulation of deadwood. We're in an "at will" location- you can discaharge anyone without cause by giving or paying for notice and paying them a severance- but we still show loyalty to people who don't deserve it. Firing or laying off people during slow times is indeed difficult, but it is equally difficult to see good contractors let go at the end of a peak period in favour of staff whose principal virtue seems to be brown-nosing certain owners and avoiding the axe.
RE: keeping good employees in a downturn.
The ever recourceful US., employers did what they always do in a case like this, they poached. With the Dollar riding high they came to Europe and other countries then searched for time served journeymen, engineers and others. The money they offered seemed like a small fortune, this coupled with the fact that taxes were only taking about 15% of your income when your home country was taking over 50% made it seem like a paradise. Of course when the industry took a downturn these same employers were just as quick to show their new employees the door saying " Dont take it personally, its just business". Don't think that this was just in the past, it still goes on today, look at articles on H1B visas.
The problem with this was that certain european countries decided that investing 5 years into an employee, just to see him or her up stakes, and leave was not on, so many countries just abandoned apprenticeship programs all together.
It took several years before industries and governments began to realise the depth of knowlege they were losing, as the generations who had served apprenticeships retired, and were replaced with workers who had OJT or short training courses that gave them just enough knowlege to do the job, but not enough, to deal with an out of the ordinary situation.
These forums are a classic example of this, look at the questions that show up from people who are fresh out of school who would have worked alongside more experienced engineers or journeymen in the past. Who are now very often thrust into a job on their own to sink or swim. The good news here on these forums is that they can get an answer that at least points them in the right direction.
Ok now stepping down from soapbox,
B.E.
The good engineer does not need to memorize every formula; he just needs to know where he can find them when he needs them. Old professor