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.”
click here to expandTask-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.
click here to expandThe 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;
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.
click here to expandRead the full November, 2024 Proactive Technologies Report newsletter, including linked industry articles and online presentation schedules.
Proactive Technologies, Inc.®; PROTECH®; Human Resource Management for Tomorrow...Today!® and logo; Accelerated Transfer of Expertise System™; Certificate of Job Mastery Program™, Certificate of Task Mastery Program™ are all trademarks of Proactive Technologies Inc.®;