60 Mins Piece: Can't Find Decent Employees?

[ztirffritz]

I haven't had a raise in 3 years. It is frustrating because my site is one of ten sites in our corporation. My site is busy to capacity. We're bursting at the seams with work. We're making money at a furious pace, but all that does is prop up the rest of the company. As a result, it doesn't look like the corporation is doing well, hence...no raises.

[N-OS X-tasy!]

freeradical wrote:
[quote=chopper]
They want entry-level workers who can code for CNC machines, read a micrometer and caliper, change bits on a lathe and etc. You must known how to do pretty advanced trig to do this. Okay.

A High School graduate should be able to do this.
What decade do you live in?

[N-OS X-tasy!]

Paul F. wrote:
Machine shop owner I talk to occasionally has more problems finding employees that can pass a drug test, and actually show up to work than finding people with entry-level skills... though that can be a challenge too, since basic addition, subtraction, etc are required. So is not showing up to work stoned.

Given where you live...

Is meth as much of a problem up there as it is in Redding, or is it just potheads you have to deal with up there?

[N-OS X-tasy!]

lazydays wrote:
Where I worked last they had trouble finding people who knew the alphabet to work in the filing room. Granted it was an entry level job paying near minimum wage but it also came with vacation time, sick time, a 401k plan, and the job took place in a back room where a radio was allowed. All they needed was to be able to alphabetize...

Back when I loaded package cars at UPS, I was shocked to learn how many potential employees washed out of the job because they did not know the difference between an odd and even number.

[N-OS X-tasy!]

lazydays wrote:
Also, I enjoy watching vintage tv shows and I am struck by the contrast with current tv. The older shows (that I watch) demonstrate basic respect for people, especially children for adults, where current programming seems to glorify lying and disrespect. I realize the older shows did not represent how things really were but the current shows certainly do encourage poor behavior.

It has been my belief for many years now that The Disney Channel has been poisoning the minds and attitudes of American youth.

[Paul F.]

N-OS X-tasy! wrote:
[quote=Paul F.]
Machine shop owner I talk to occasionally has more problems finding employees that can pass a drug test, and actually show up to work than finding people with entry-level skills... though that can be a challenge too, since basic addition, subtraction, etc are required. So is not showing up to work stoned.

Given where you live...

Is meth as much of a problem up there as it is in Redding, or is it just potheads you have to deal with up there?
Pot's still bigger, but meth is rapidly catching up... And according to a LE acquaintance, heroin is making a comeback here after being down for a decade.

[Numo]

Unfortunately, discipline is a big problem in education today. One of the biggest reasons is that schools have little or no authority anymore. Look at a kid sideways, and you get a deeply offended parent in your face threatening to sue.

I gave up teaching children largely because I realized that I was probably going to wind up smacking one of the little smartasses one day. I teach adults now, and really enjoy it. There is a huge difference in attitude when a student has chosen to be in school. In my fantasy world, there are boot camps where unruly students are sent to learn respect, and the rest of the kids and teachers can get on with learning.

[M A V I C]

I just skimmed the article. The facts of which play a large part in this discussion.

- There is a free training program for students
"The program focuses on the machines found in today's factories. Students are taught to operate the computers, read blueprints, and learn trigonometry to make precise measurements. Almost a year's worth of training packed into 16 weeks."

- They can still collect unemployment during this time

- "Most of the students here will start at jobs paying 12 dollars an hour. Skilled machinists can earn upwards of $60,000 a year. "

I think $12/hr is reasonable as long as it doesn't take long to work your way up. As cbelt3 noted, pay at his company starts at $0. If you don't produce quality products, you don't get paid. Similar to a commission only sales position.

You gotta work and do a good job to get paid well. Imagine that.

[Grateful11]

chopper wrote:
Requiring someone to know how to code CNC, mic out pieces and set up a lathe correctly before you'll give them $12 an hour seems like an absurdity.

I agree. I made more than that in '88. As a full Journeyman Machinist I never once found myself unable to find work.
I usually had at least two wanting to hire everytime I was looking to change companies. I spent over 20 years at the
last company I worked for. There really aren't that many people that I know that I would consider as an all round
Journeyman Machinist but I do know several. I made $8/hr working part-time while in Tech school in the early 80's.
A Machinist needs excellent math skills, good eyes, steady hands, patience, years of training on various machines
and boatload of common sense.

Someone mentioned Conversational programming, there's still loads of CNC machine tools out there that use
G-Codes for programming. Heidenhain is one one the easiest to program controls out there is when it comes
Conversational programming. ProtoTrak is also an easy one for small machines, mostly on retrofit machines.

[M A V I C]

Grateful11 wrote:
[quote=chopper]
Requiring someone to know how to code CNC, mic out pieces and set up a lathe correctly before you'll give them $12 an hour seems like an absurdity.

I agree. I made more than that in '88. As a full Journeyman Machinist I never once found myself unable to find work.
*sigh*

The skills cited in the piece for the $12/hr position are:
"Show up on time, you know, read, write, do math, problem solve."

And their essentially being gifted a 2yr degree.