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Companies Try to Retain Older Workers
LA Times ^ | 9-3-07 | Jonoathon Peterson

Posted on 09/03/2007 11:07:38 AM PDT by afraidfortherepublic

Every time John Remore steps up to his workstation to form a piece of sheet metal, he brings an intangible asset to the job: 42 years of experience, dating to lessons from his father.

(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: business; genx; job; jobs; seniors; skill; workplace
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To: Cogadh na Sith

Try reading my post again.


141 posted on 09/03/2007 1:22:13 PM PDT by uglybiker (relaxing in a luxuriant cloud of quality, aromatic, pre-owned tobacco essence)
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To: AppyPappy
Gamers tend to be more computer-literate

I haven't met many gamers with a work ethic, they are too busy playing games. Even fewer who can actually fabricate or repair something.

142 posted on 09/03/2007 1:22:43 PM PDT by Valpal1 ("I know the fittest have not survived when I watch Congress on CSPAN.")
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To: Valpal1

The vast majority of college students I meet (especially engineers) are gamers. Most of the games today require quite a bit of tweaking to run well on a PC .


143 posted on 09/03/2007 1:24:46 PM PDT by AppyPappy (If you aren't part of the solution, there is good money to be made prolonging the problem.)
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To: Cogadh na Sith

He better be a REAL slacker before I would fire an older worker. If he had medical or family problems I give them a wide birth but would consider past performance. But..........one thing for sure, a company is there to manufacture a product and schedules have to be met. Without product, nobody would have a job.


144 posted on 09/03/2007 1:24:54 PM PDT by RC2
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To: uglybiker
The U.S. ain't the only country with a defense industry. Who knows? Somebody just might be looking for your skill in Australia, Japan or Sweden (Taiwan?)...

They already buy all their stuff from us. My company works on contracts from those countries including UK, and Singapore.

I can't work for directly for a foreign company with a US Security Clearance, I'll go to jail.

145 posted on 09/03/2007 1:25:20 PM PDT by Cogadh na Sith (Gen X: I'll be the 'Junior Guy' until I'm 70.)
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To: afraidfortherepublic
Gotta suspect your not paying enough.

I know a guy who does touch up on surface mount for a military contractor.

Makes really good money for someone with no degree.

I wouldn't want to do it. But I'm a degreed engineer. Don't need to.

Have you tried hiring mechanics away from the local auto dealer?

They're amazingly underpaid for what they know. Most are just beat down by the system. Give them an path out and many will jump. You'll have to match their pay to start (which will likely be more then they are worth at first). Watch out for the lame ones.

146 posted on 09/03/2007 1:26:20 PM PDT by Dinsdale
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To: television is just wrong

I don’t have any illegal aliens working for me. As far as I know, none have applied. I did have some young men of Puerto Rican descent (all from one family — father is in Iraq — hired them as a favor to him becaue he is a good worker whom I expect to come back when his tour of duty is done) working for me and they caused so much trouble that I finally had to let them all go.

They threatened other workers, mis-used tools, suffered costly accidents, didn’t come to work on time (or at all) and generally caused havoc around the plant. They tried to cause a strike one time when the Mexicans in town were striking about 1 1/2 years ago.

I told them to knock it off. They weren’t illegals. The last time I looked, Puerto Rico was a part of the US. I was glad to see them go. They would take off early on Fridays, get drunk over the weekend, and not show up on Mondays.


147 posted on 09/03/2007 1:28:34 PM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
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To: RC2
He better be a REAL slacker before I would fire an older worker.

So they get unwritten preferential treatment? No wonder you don't have much luck retaining younger workers. Sounds like a crappy place to work for the younger guys.

Do you see that guys my age (40) are treated differently now than you were treated when you were 40?

148 posted on 09/03/2007 1:29:45 PM PDT by Cogadh na Sith (Gen X: I'll be the 'Junior Guy' until I'm 70.)
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To: Cogadh na Sith
the only way anyone under 40 gets promoted is if someone at the top dies

Boo hoo!

I hope your family goes homeless.

149 posted on 09/03/2007 1:30:01 PM PDT by Glenn (Free Venezuela!)
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To: Clintonfatigued
“Companies today demand loyality but are unwilling to give it to the people that made them big.”

As a computer guy, I can do no more than consider myself even with a company at the end of each day. There is no loyalty in this business.

150 posted on 09/03/2007 1:30:17 PM PDT by glorgau
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To: Dinsdale

Surface mount blew my mind when it first came out. Hell, I started designing when IC’s came in a T05 can. Don’t know if anyone knows what a T05 can is any more. Fun days though.


151 posted on 09/03/2007 1:30:27 PM PDT by RC2
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To: Cogadh na Sith

I’d love to give a younger worker a chance — as long as he/she shows up and takes an interest in his/her job.


152 posted on 09/03/2007 1:31:43 PM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
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To: stylin19a

That brings back memories - I worked for PNB in the early 80s on a team designing and writing the software to run the MAC system - We ran it on Tandem computers.

The SVP in charge was pissed one year because the uptime of the network was only 98% that year.


153 posted on 09/03/2007 1:33:25 PM PDT by cinives (On some planets what I do is considered normal.)
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To: Dinsdale

I don’t need a full time mechanic — just someone with mechanical aptitude and the willingness to do more than one thing. We pay pretty well, actually.


154 posted on 09/03/2007 1:33:54 PM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
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To: afraidfortherepublic
I’d love to give a younger worker a chance

You don't really have a choice, they aren't making any more older workers....

155 posted on 09/03/2007 1:34:00 PM PDT by Cogadh na Sith (Gen X: I'll be the 'Junior Guy' until I'm 70.)
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To: Oberon
Want your son to be handy and have *uncommon* skills? Take the lock and door handle off the front door, clean it, lube it with graphite and reinstall it.

Pull the garbage disposal out of the sink and replace it with a newer model. Adjust the garage door to operate more quietly. Install a new toilet. Teach him how to hang a door. Replace the screen in a window, then the back door. Teach him how to solder, then weld, then use a cutting torch.

If anything breaks in the house, ask him to select all the tools needed to repair it as if he was driving across town to fix it at somebodies elses house.

Teach him to change the oil in the lawnmower, the car, the truck, the boat. Teach him how to replace all the air filters in the vehicles. Change the heater/airconditioner air filter. Teach him how to wash a window. Yes, there is right and wrong ways of doing everything. Glass from the top down. Painted walls, you wash from the bottom up. Painted doors, you wash from the bottom up.

Buy a bag of mortar and build a brick seat in the backyard. Replace the corner posts in your backyard fence. Explain why they are longer, set in concrete, treated for carpenter ants and termites beforehand.

Teach him how to sharpen a circular saw blade with a handfile. Teach him to sharpen the blade on the lawnmower. Teach him to put a new end on a heavy guage extension cord.

Spend just four hours a week repairing and replacing things in the home. In a year, he'll be confident and know how to earn a dollar anywhere. You would be surprised at what a neighbor will pay to have him install a new garbage disposal or wash the walls in the garage.

All of these skills are money makers. Big money savers, over the course of a lifetime, if you have to hire someone else to do it for you.

156 posted on 09/03/2007 1:35:20 PM PDT by B4Ranch ("Freedom is not free, but don't worry the U.S. Marine Corps will pay most of your share.")
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To: Cogadh na Sith

Hey........there’s all kinds of unwritten rules in this world. Just like there’s all kind of reasons I could find to fire someone. Some of which would blow your mind and aren’t written down. Preferential treatment? Do you actually believe that this doesn’t happen in any industry? It’s part of life. I never said I couldn’t retain younger workers. My retention rate was amazing.


157 posted on 09/03/2007 1:36:07 PM PDT by RC2
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To: Dinsdale

You sound like my business partner - 17 years as a research and test engineer with Bell Labs, and an audio engineer and ham to boot.


158 posted on 09/03/2007 1:36:44 PM PDT by cinives (On some planets what I do is considered normal.)
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To: B4Ranch
All of these skills are money makers. Big money savers, over the course of a lifetime, if you have to hire someone else to do it for you.

I dunno... Mexicans work pretty cheap.

159 posted on 09/03/2007 1:37:09 PM PDT by Cogadh na Sith (Gen X: I'll be the 'Junior Guy' until I'm 70.)
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To: Cogadh na Sith

Hey........there’s all kinds of unwritten rules in this world. Just like there’s all kind of reasons I could find to fire someone. Some of which would blow your mind and aren’t written down. Preferential treatment? Do you actually believe that this doesn’t happen in any industry? It’s part of life. I never said I couldn’t retain younger workers. My retention rate was amazing.


160 posted on 09/03/2007 1:37:17 PM PDT by RC2
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