Extreme “Bumping” – A Powerful Lesson Supporting the
Value of Cross-Training From a Union Shop
by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.
A challenge for union shops in this age of “higher-than-normal” labor turnover – through voluntary and encouraged retirements, reactions to economic events, corporate strategies to lower labor costs, etc. – is “bumping rights.” Whenever an employee with seniority departs the organization for any reason, a posting goes up and lesser senior employees can bid on that position if posted for bidding and kept open. If the hiring ends up being internal, several people can change seats to fill the open and subsequently opened up positions, until everyone is seated once again.
The very positive aspect of this labor contract provision is the opportunities for cross-training presented to the employees, and employer for that matter. Although it may be a little frightening for less senior people who, through the early years, get bumped rather than do the bumping, it provides hope to newer and younger workers seeking to move-up from entry-level and a chance to experience more challenging and interesting job classifications. The skill cross-training it provides facilitates continuous development opportunities to the employee that they might not have in a non-union shop -at least to that degree.
click here to expandThinking Past the Assessment: Unfinished Goals and Unrealized Expectations
by Stacey Lett, Director of Operations – Eastern U.S. – Proactive Technologies, Inc.
Literally speaking, an “assessment” is the process of measuring the value, quality and/or quantity of something. There are many types of assessments, and methods for assessing. In theory, it is the process of evaluating one thing against a set of criteria to determine the match/mismatch.
There are assessments for risk, for taxes, vulnerability. There are psychological, health, and political assessments. There is a group of educational assessments that measure a variety of outcomes such as educational attainment – assessments of course content mastery, assessment of grade level attainment, assessments of Scholastic Aptitude Tests (“SAT”) that compare a student to their peers nationally and a variety of college readiness exams.
click here to expandThe Movement to Clear “Dead Wood” From Payroll – Is This a Good Idea?
by Dean Prigelmeier, President, Proactive Technologies, Inc.
Like most oversold management theories that appear and then disappear once the collateral damage is discovered, this one too seems to have that trajectory – probably not before it ravages the capacity of companies that are running well but on which “cost cutting at any cost” measures are imposed.
The practice may be incredibly risky to the long-term health of the operation. In the August 22nd, 2016 Wall Street Journal article entitled ‘Nowhere to Hide for “Dead Wood” Workers‘ by Lauren Weber, the author detailed the story of Kimberly-Clark’s aggressive approach to clearing out the dead wood. Gone are the days of “coddling” employees who are “under-performing.” Gone are the days when an employer’s loyalty to the worker was reciprocated with loyalty to the corporation. Survival of the fittest is the driving culture for these corporations that have embraced “Performance Management.” Read More
Structured On-The-Job Training for Non-Manufacturing Job Classifications
Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.
Although the PROTECH© system of managed human resource development was designed for manufacturing and there has extensively proven its effectiveness, the approach is just as effective for jobs in any industry, and level of the organization. Proactive Technologies, Inc.’s job/task analysis methodology is rooted in those used by the U. S. Departments of Defense and Energy – modified for use in the private-sector world with private-sector budgets and time constraints. The development and use of the job data is based on those practices that seemed to be working in human resource management, human resource development, technical writing, quality control and workforce development – modernized to an ever-changing and challenging world.
When it comes to the analysis of the job, which is the center of all instruments and activities developed from it, the common factor of all work is that it can be defined in discrete units called “tasks.” Nobody is ever hired and expected to be very knowledgeable about a subject, or be very aware, or be strong. These attributes do not become useful until applied in the performance of a meaningful recognizable unit of work. If correct performance of the task, the “best practice,” requires these attributes as either a necessary to learning to perform the task or needed in the performance of the task, they become prerequisite, but not the outcome.
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Read the full September, 2016 newsletter, including linked industry articles and online presentation schedules.
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