EMS and Employee Recruitment

I wrote an article that focused on TeligentEMS’ teaming efforts with Tallahassee Community College (TCC) to develop an educational program for SMT operators in SMT Magazine in May. I really enjoyed writing this article for two reasons. First, as much as the Gator alum in me hates praising anything in Tallahassee, TCC really has its act together. It is helping to change lives as well as provide an education to folks who either don’t have the time or the money to spend on a four-year degree. Second, I was able to interview a production worker who had changed her life by taking advantage of SMT training at TCC and then going to work at TeligentEMS. Much of that interview is in her own words and I think in many ways she reflects the sentiments of many 30-something workers who are trapped in service sector jobs and looking for a path to a job with advancement potential that doesn’t involve a long period of unemployment and retraining in order to make the switch. For EMS companies facing challenges in recruiting production employees, this article highlights a formula that seems to be working.

Work Ethic and Opportunity

Scottish author and reformer Samuel Smiles once said, “the spirit of self-help is the root of all genuine growth in the individual.” I strongly believe that and in my August Circuits Assembly column discuss the model the late Olin King used at SCI Systems, Inc. to foster a culture of opportunity for those willing to put in the extra hours to take advantage of those benefits.

While there is room for debate on King’s management style, I suspect that if back in the 80s entrepreneurs at more large manufacturing concerns had worked as closely with their local and state resources as King did, we might have better trained workforces, education systems that worked and a lot less government bureaucracy tied to job creation. The tuition refund program described in the column would be impossible for any company to afford now that universities have grown into bloated bureaucracies more worried about achieving academic or athletic bragging rights than educating students at an affordable cost. Similarly, many public job creation initiatives require companies to spend inordinate amounts of time on paperwork for relatively minor cost offsets, have multiple approval cycles that create unworkable lead-time or worse offer funding that unexpectedly runs out.

That said, I recognize that some EMS companies still find ways to offer employee benefits for self-improvement, in spite of the industry’s slim margins. I periodically write columns that highlight that point and given the fact that “outsourcing” is now a political wedge issue, will likely focus on the contributions EMS companies make to their local communities in column in the near future. So, if your company has a benefit program designed to increase worker skills (whether job-related or just for pure self-improvement), feel free to drop me an email or comment on this post. I’ll get back to you to discuss it in more detail before I write that column.

 

 

Invest or Cut Back?

Many of the EMS companies I work with or talk to are considering the question: invest or cut back? My February 2012 Circuits Assembly column discusses the possible areas of investment focus.