My group is going to lose 75% of its 50-somethings within the next 24 months. The oldest, wisest person in the next cohort is 34.
RWM
What you are referring to is a management style that is only recently coming to the fore–“coaching/mentoring”. This was one of the pet peeves that my occupation–that being healthcare–had for a long while–the lack of same. If you are going to get employees up to speed then you really need people to BE there for the newby. Just dumping them on to a job site and expecting excellent work out of them right from the get go is not going to happen. I’m wondering about many of the 50 somethings right now and how they got into the jobs–there seemed to be those mentoring types then–in one shape or another as well. Pairing newbies with more ‘seasoned’ employees worked to a certain extent—maybe they’ll have to do more of that.
Another thing is that we’ve gotten incredibly dumb with our infrastructure—we built them–and then ignored them thinking that one didn’t need to work on them over time. Deferral of maintainence became the name of the game—saving the $$$ bill became more important than doing the job of keeping the infrastructure together. So now we’re seeing bridges crumbling and roads crumbling and sewers and etc etc—falling on their rears—
Sometimes one needs to think outside the wallet-----
I planely saw you milling around here and barking up the wrong tree, so cut it out![
My mother would nail dad over his puns----these ones sound kinda rough grade–[:-^]
Oltmann and RWM:
Bring me up to speed.
Why are the “50 somethings” leaving? Is there a pension provision incentivizing their departures?
I am not sure if retirement is a prudent financial decision at this point in economic history, unless there are nice golden guarantees out there.
The earlier discussion regarding comparing the PRR and SP 70 years ago to the second tier railroads is brilliant. Our consumption patterns have changed dramatically the past five years. Frugality is now a preferred and required lifestyle, at least for now. “Detroit” and it’s based automotive industry has changed dramatically. Infrastructure which was near capacity such as the ex Wabash line seems to have lost considerable traffic and now has excess capacity. Temporary or permanently? Where do the railroads invest their capital going forward? New government requirements will demand significantly more of that capital it appears.
This is only a hunch, as I am an outsider, but when contracts terminate and are being renegotiated, downward pricing pressure could begin to creep in (certain markets such as coal or intermodal).
ed
If there’s an exodus on the horizon, wouldn’t it make sense that the RRs would be hiring or do they wait until people are gone to start the process?
I am beginning to conclude that the reinvention of the wheel is at hand! And for several good and not so good reasons.
The not so good reasons lay in two places concerning labor: 1) loss of qualified and experienced managers and workers due to retirements or layoffs. This is a real threat and needs to be addressed immediately. I’ve hearn rumors of companies losing their quality and competitive edge because of loss of this echelon and quantity of talent. Often there are hirebacks in the form of consulting or contract work on the management level. 2). lack of avaiablity of new labor and inability of new hires to do quality and quantity of work. This is something current managements have to deal with to make it to tomorrow. 3) Therefore both problems here could lead to neophytes coming in and “playing” train.
The other, the good reasons, for there being a reinvention of the wheel is that planners and managers (both private and public) of all forms of transportation are realizing they have a brotherhood of concerns and needs which has to lead to a rethinking of segeragated forms of transportation. Over the next five to fifty years there will be more intergration and universal technologies to form an almost seamless carriage of people and goods from mode to mode, coast to coast (not endorsment of long distance passenger trains) for efficiency of fuel and equipment as well as for environmental concerns.
Now I don’t think there is anybody who believes the whole of the current system will be thrown away, there will be no throwning the baby out with the bathwater. But there will be new ways of using, organizing, and integrating our transportation systems so much so that it might not look like the same groups of modes we see today. Yes, its like reinventing the wheel building from a base that has evolved over the last 200
Which is probably a good portion of the reason why Norfolk Southern gave a $100,000 grant to Penn State’s Altoona Campus in August of this year to establish/ support a Railroad and Transit ngineering Degree program there. See -
Given the state of the economy today and the outlook for the next five years, I’m surprised that a shortage of qualified people is viewed as the biggest challenge. I don’t doubt it…you guys are more qualified and closer to the action than I am… but…I wouldn’t have guessed labor shortage.
On a postive note (?)…there are now an awful lot of good qualified underemployed people out there… I just got back from South Carolina, and got to talking to one the cleaners in the hotel I was staying in. The lady I spoke to says she’s got degrees in engineering and physics but because she doesn’t have American experience she’s cleaning toilets. I see it my industry too…more truck drivers and dispatchers are computer literate and often have advanced training in something…the proverbial dummy HS dropout is becoming extinct.
There may come a temporary shortage…but there are alot of intelligent people out there who will do your job and mine, and will take half the time to learn it.
Perhaps we should consider the United States Congress!!
Individually there are many bright people serving, probably mine and yours. But collectively they are a disaster with all of the ‘buying’ votes with earmarks and tradeoffs. And the ‘whats good for our party’ motivation. The damage they do cannot easily be undone. All new members with the finest intentions find they must play along to get along. And far too many are lawyers or people with no experience in the private sector.
I have come to the conclusion that they could not organize a turtle race with only one entrant. Many, like me are independents and more are becoming so by increasing numbers.
Regrettably the best and the brightest aren’t drawn into politics. Top performers want to compete in an arena where results are clear, unequivocal, and result in some kind of benefit, monetary or otherwise. In politics you have the exact opposite…results are often unclear…efforts are often unrewarded and underappreciated…and game players are often the ones who get ahead…That’s not always true…there are some great people in politics…but not as many as needed.
Seems strange years back I couldn’t get near a job or promotion because some lump managed to get in ahead of me (age discrimination) so I was always least paid, no seniority, no chance for promotion, ended up doing most of the work, until ALL of the aging staff died or retired (many many years later) now things have actually caught up to present day, just where were all these apprentices being taught, all the past workers cared about was their pension and seeing how little work they could do. A whole generation never entered the work force until that generation moved on.
(give it to the new kid)
Perhaps the operative concepts that lead to all the aforementioned problems are GREED and SHORT-SIGHTEDNESS.
How do you define “greed” as it applies to business?
Good questions - ones that I was wondering, too. Although not directed to me, here are some answers, pending a fuller response from those gentlemen:
“Employees with 30 or more years of creditable service are eligible for full age and service annuities the first full month they are age 60, if their annuities begin January 1, 2002, or later.” [emphasis added - PDN]
Hence the designation or reference to it of,
[emphasis added - PDN]
not greed or shortsightedness…just the ebb and flow of supply and demand. Very rarely are both in perfect balance.
There was a big hiring “blob” in the post WWII years, then another in the late 60s thru the 70s to replace the first blob. Now, that blob is reaching the 60 years old/30 years service needed for full RR retirement, so out the door we go!
Can you give an example on a class 1 where they were greedy or shortsighted in the past 30 years? I can’t think of a one.
And there are some that think that governance—in the form of the public service–will control that----mmmm
I’m still going to suggest other things—such as our demographics
And the way that our education systems have short changed those students who were more mechanically inclined—with closure of school workshops and the like. Community colleges going more into theory—simply to avoid the cost of the machinery these students were learning from.
etc etc etc—