Workforce Challenges

 Alexis, works in a field similar to mine. Heavy regulations, training demands, a less educated workforce. She was discussing the divide between the workers and the executives. 

Several things popped to mind when I read her paper. First, like her, we train workers who enter and remain in our industry and provide manual labor and field-work-type activities. Like she mentioned, there is a huge divide between the working class and the executive class in our world, and instead of closing, I think the gap is widening. 

HOWEVER, I do feel as though our executive class would love to be able to do things to help the workers remain at the job and grow, but in many cases, we are stymied by state and federal bureaucracies and red tape. Initiatives like sponsoring child care for all of the single moms we hire or new parents would be a welcome benefit to our workers, but the challenges of setting something like up, having it linked to our business, staffing, etc etc made it impossible. 

At my previous job, I wanted to have a "return to work" initiative to help parolees and former convicts find worthwhile work in our industry. However, background check requirements made this impossible despite the fact that I proved that these employees have far less turnover and increased retention than our average worker. I could go on and on, and it's always a tough nut to crack. 

The second point I thought about as she wrote about public transportation challenges, was a podcast on public transportation that I heard on Freakonomics. Their contention was the benefits of providing free public transportation far outweigh the downsides. I had never thought about this before, but listening to the podcast changed my mind completely. The revenue from fares is negligible when compared to the operating costs, and the amount of time saved on routes is significant. When she discussed her workforces challenges in missing the bus, this came to mind. I don't think many municipalities have tried it, but the ones who have have seen benefits for workers and riders who use the systems. It was quite enlightening to me. 

Recently, I've been challenging myself to always end on a positive note. So to that end, I will say that several of our workers work the system to their benefit and find a rewarding and profitable career. I met one guy, high school graduate, who traveled the country from Jan to April working different jobs. He would stay in company-paid hotels, his work clothes were paid for, he had a nice per-diem that he never fully used so he kept the extra, he didn't have to pay for a car since there was transportation every day to the plants, and between jobs, and he racked up tons of overtime. 

Then he would take June to Aug off and then do it all again from Sep to November. In the winter months he would hunt and fish, in the summer months he would take the family to his lake house to mess around. No work demands at all during these months. He made enough in working just 6 months that he wouldn't have to work the other 6 months. 

Not only that, he made so much in double time and over time that I found out later he made more in those 6 months than I did in annual salary! He was a testament to hard work paying off and being able to work the system to his advantage.