[OT] As Was Done With Training, Perhaps
- From: docdwarf@xxxxxxxxx ()
- Date: Thu, 2 Mar 2006 15:34:12 +0000 (UTC)
There have been, at times, discussions here about how many employers train
(or, more frequently, don't train) employees to deal with changes in the
technologies involved with their jobs... how a company seeking to
implement web-based functions will hire new Java-jockies instead of
sending their COBOL-coders to classes, for example. I've often thought
that reasoning was bipartite, but with a single basis:
1) Sending someone to class Costs Money.
2) Once the person has completed the class they may be hired away by a
competitor... so to keep that person on the job a pay-raise might need to
be given and this Costs Money.
Anyhow... I was catching up on a bit of reading and came across an article
in the 18 - 24 Feb 2006 issue of The Economist, a 'special report' on
dealing with the ageing workforce, entitled 'Turning Boomers into
Boomerangs'. (A 'boomer' is someone born during the post-WWII 'baby boom'
and a 'boomerang' is someone who returns to work after an absence). I was
struck by the following:
--begin quoted text:
A survey in America last month by Ernst & Young found that "although
corporate America foresees a significant workforce shortage as boomers
retire, it is not dealing with the issue." Almost three-quarters of the
1,400 global companies questioned by Deloitte last year said they expected
a shortage of salaried staff over the next three to five years. Yet few of
them are looking to older workers to fill that shortage; and even fewer
are looking to them to fill another gap that has already appeared. Many
firms in Europe and America complain that they struggle to find qualified
directors for their boards?this when the pool of retired talent from those
very same firms is growing by leaps and bounds.
Why are firms not working harder to keep old employees? Part of the reason
is that the crunch has been beyond the horizon of most managers. Nor is
hanging on to older workers the only way to cope with a falling supply of
labour. The participation of developing countries in the world economy has
increased the overall supply?whatever the local effect of demographics in
the rich countries. A vast amount of work is being sent offshore to such
places as China and India and more will go in future. Some countries, such
as Australia, are relaxing their immigration policies to allow much needed
skills to come in from abroad. Others will avoid the need for workers by
spending money on machinery and automation.
--end quoted text
.... and then there's, of course, a simple reason... older, more
experienced workers might have a better knowledge of the value their work
provides an organisation and might, as a result, demand higher wages...
and this Costs Money.
Never mind that it might take two recent college grads thrice the time it
takes someone with thirty-odd years' worth of experience to accomplish a
task... the two grads' salaries, combined, are - on a quarterly basis -
less than the geezer's.
DD
.
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