Lack of Immediate “Big Win” Puts Improvements in Worker Capacity on Chopping Block…For Short-Term Focused
Management Cultures
by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.
Let’s face it, discussing the desperate need for worker training to build consistent performance, increased worker output and compliance, is a hard sell in any boardroom. The first question is usually, “how much is this going to cost us?” Not “what is the investment and how will we realize the return?” Since accountants, who are not trained in any aspect of worker development, have more weight in this type of showdown, guess who wins.
Shareholder gains are measured in terms of quarterly profit margins; try explaining the merits of building a stronger, more resilient and retained workforce and the value of increasing worker capacity, increasing work quantity, quality and compliance over yawns and disinterest. It usually takes decades of unintentional or intentional neglect to weaken a firm’s workforce; it stands to reason the solution won’t bring exciting monetary returns in a quarter.
There is plenty of shared blame for this state of disconnect. Human resource professionals, training and development experts, and education in general have focused their workforce development solutions promotion on products they have – the quick and simple classroom and online products. It simple and familiar to everyone. That is the domain they have the most experience in, having taken classes in college. These products are great for pre-employment core skill development and post-hire core and general technical skill (if properly aligned), but these represent “transfer of knowledge,” not “transfer of task-based expertise.”
It is hard to draw a line from completion of a knowledge transfer course to improvements in a worker’s performance. Sometimes it is due to the lack of fit with the actual need, sometimes to relevancy of the content. And courses just happened to be priced in “seat time” units, which fits an accountant’s “cost” definition well. As easy as it is to list cost in a budget, it is just as easy to delete it from the budget.
In an interesting article in IndustryWeek Magazine entitled, ‘Where Are the Big Wins?’ How I Got Fired as a Lean Consultant,” authors Rick Bohan, Ron Jacques described their experience with this dilemma as this: Read More
Task-Specific Performance Reviews – An Accurate Metric for a Structured On-Job-Training Outcome
by Stacey Lett, Director of Operations – Eastern U.S. – Proactive Technologies, Inc.
We have all been through it. For decades this has been the topic of comedy shows and movies…the dreaded annual performance review. And when it is over, we might tell our confidants how non-reflective of reality and unfair it was. We calm down over the next few months and grow more anxious each month as we get closer to the next one thinking we are at its whim.
Why are they used? Are they supposed to be a good measure or performance or just a way to meet a human resources department obligation? More times than not they seem like a justification for not giving a wage increase than guidance on how an employee can continually improve and contribute to the organization.
It is bewildering why management would spend the time and money, and risk employee morale time and again, on an employee measurement that isn’t.
Conceptually, the performance review has a purpose. It is to measure employee performance during a review period, identify areas of weakness and strength, and offer guidance on how an employee can improve on shortcomings and expand potential. But that is only possible if it is accurate to the job classification against which an individual is measured.
Several decades ago, performance review criteria became a template – one form fits all. In order for that to be possible, the metrics had to become more general, such as whether the individual “works well with others,” “completes projects on time,” “shows initiative.” At best, these types of measures leave the reviewed wondering whose job performance is being discussed. At worst, these subjective measures leave a lot of latitude for the reviewer who sometimes deliberately or unintentionally punishes an otherwise good performing employee. Read More
The PROTECH “Plug-n-Play” Solution for Workforce Development
Proactive Technologies, Inc. – Staff
The PROTECH Approach to Workforce Development Was Designed for Employers and is a Logical “Plug-n-Play” Solution to Bridge Employers with Local Workforce Development Resources.
The PROTECH© system of managed human resource development and the accelerated transfer of expertise™ approach:
- Is designed exactly to the employers’ job classifications – incorporating the employer’s work processes (developing standard processes where not available), engineering specifications, quality specifications and safety requirements;
- Creates a structured on-the-job training infrastructure – ready to train new-hires, cross-train workers AND close incumbent workers training gaps;
- Requires a low and declining per trainee investment;
- Lowers employer’s internal costs of worker development while increasing worker capacity, work quantity and quality, and compliance (i.e. with engineering and safety specifications, as well as quality programs such as AS/AS/IATF and NADCAP);
- Lower worker turnover for employers and with sustained higher worker engagement;
- Is a perfect capstone to core and industry-general preparation;
- Can, and has been, registered as apprenticeships and provides a natural pathway for relevant and meaningful internships;
- Establishes clear career paths and develop tools for every job targeted;
- Provides accurate metrics and record keeping to control, improve and report outcomes;
- Generates a wealth of current data for educational institutions, workforce developers and training providers to validate their content and customize instructional materials and approach;
- Immediately documents recognizable prior learning/prior skills and accumulating worker value;
- Has continued to provide employers with a high “return of worker investment”- leading employers to stay engaged in sustainable partnerships;
- Is proven over 30 years of application, some projects continuing over 20 years and still providing our training partners opportunities for applying products and services with pre-employment preparation, new-hire remediation and job-related lifelong learning for incumbent workers;
- Proactive Technologies contracts directly with the employer, sharing revenue with the WFD partner from the initial project through inevitable project expansions – helping WFD projects become and remain self-sufficient.
The PROTECH approach provides many other benefits that make employers want to remain engaged with workforce development partners and continue/expand worker development programs. Read More
Finding the Balance Between Wages, Entry-Level Skills and Opportunities for Advancement
by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.
During the path toward recovery after events such as the Crash of 2008 and the Covid-19 shutdowns, many employers that had to lay-off skilled workers tried to find some of those workers (in whom a great investment was made) and bring them back for rehire. Some were not needed, some could not be found, some moved on to what they thought were safer career tracks and some inexplicably “dropped out” of the labor force.
Concurrently, employers initially continued a push to drive wages down. Some of it was rationalized by the swollen labor pool, some of it was to take advantage of the economics of desperation due to job loss and some, it was said, to position the company competitively. Some was because everyone else was doing it, and some of it was because the investors demanded it.
The result is a world in which economic theory no longer supports reality. For example, unemployment is reported at a celebrated low 4.3 percent through September, 2024. Yet wages continue to decline in many areas. Most credible economic theories state that when the supply of labor becomes scarcer, wages tend to increase to reflect that scarcity. This is simply a supply and demand issue.
So, there must be other than economic reasons for this. It brings into question how employment is defined; what is considered a job, full-time employment, part-time versus seasonal employment, contract versus temporary employment. On the one hand we are told that skilled workers cannot be easily found, often citing the shortage of workers as suggested by the low unemployment number. Yet, reports state that youth unemployment is at a seriously high level of 9.6 – 10 % (some say it feels much higher) and older workers continue to postpone retirement, or return from retirement, as they find financing a retirement with rising prices (but reportedly low inflation) and fixed incomes (sliding backward in real dollars) increasingly harder to endure. So, it seems the number of unemployed, underemployed and retirement-aged workers are there to fill the available jobs but, but employers say they cannot find the skilled ones.
When you hear of an unemployed Engineer, previously making $100,000/year, who now has 3 jobs and makes $40,000/year, that may be considered employment, but each job can also be considered “underemployment.” Maybe if the trained engineer was able to find one engineering job that paid enough to allow them to support themselves and their family, that would free up two jobs for others still looking.
The nature of the employment is important to understanding its effect on the worker. We hear employers report on the “skill gap,” saying “we just can’t find the skilled workers we need.” We have seen, heard and read that for years. But what does that mean? Is it hard to find the skilled workers, or the skilled workers we want at the wage level we set? Are the educational institutions failing to develop the labor supply needed? If that were the case, the shortage would drive wages up. Read More
Read the full November, 2024 Proactive Technologies Report newsletter, including linked industry articles and online presentation schedules.
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