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Companies Try to Retain Older Workers
LA Times ^ | 9-3-07 | Jonoathon Peterson

Posted on 09/03/2007 11:07:38 AM PDT by afraidfortherepublic

Every time John Remore steps up to his workstation to form a piece of sheet metal, he brings an intangible asset to the job: 42 years of experience, dating to lessons from his father.

(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: business; genx; job; jobs; seniors; skill; workplace
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To: Larry Lucido

Thank you for that smile - LOL


21 posted on 09/03/2007 11:26:55 AM PDT by NordP (HUNTER: "The real question for Mexico--Why are your people crossing burning deserts to get away?")
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To: afraidfortherepublic
I just retired after 40 years of Making Electricity, it was fun, met a lot of real good guys and some real dumb asses. The best were people who came to work did their job and then went home.

Remember it only takes one dumb ass to disrupt a crew.

22 posted on 09/03/2007 11:27:57 AM PDT by Little Bill (Welcome to the Newly Socialist State of New Hampshire)
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To: afraidfortherepublic
The best workers I have in my business are over 70.The younger kids are undependable and don’t want to learn the skills I need.

A CFO of a large business told me the same thing the other day.

23 posted on 09/03/2007 11:28:21 AM PDT by dragnet2
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To: lesser_satan
...but can’t do any work that adds value to anything

Indeed! Nothing is more noble than taking raw materials and turning them into finished goods. I don't know why our schools can't teach that.

Funny thing happened to me one day -- I found out that a Dean of Engineering of a local University and his wife -- both educated with higher degrees -- were uncomfortable with the word "profit"! They treated it like a dirty word? I wonder how they thought they got their bread and butter (and all their fancy hobbies -- motorcycles, horses, etc) if it didn't come from the PROFIT earned by the taxpayers???

24 posted on 09/03/2007 11:29:32 AM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
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To: Oberon

Truck driving can be lucrative if he pursues the right tract. Some of the more technical areas of automotive repair, too.


25 posted on 09/03/2007 11:30:00 AM PDT by Jeff Chandler ("A person's a person no matter how small." -Dr. Seuss)
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To: afraidfortherepublic
The best workers I have in my business are over 70.The younger kids are undependable and don’t want to learn the skills I need.

Out of curiousity, what skills do you need and what's the nature of your business?

26 posted on 09/03/2007 11:31:47 AM PDT by NittanyLion
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To: Cogadh na Sith
the boomers won't live forever, or hopefully not much longer.

What an utterly stupid thing to say and I'm not a "boomer".

27 posted on 09/03/2007 11:33:00 AM PDT by Graybeard58 (Remember and pray for SSgt. Matt Maupin - MIA/POW- Iraq since 04/09/04)
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To: afraidfortherepublic

I’m an apps engineer for a machine tool dealer in Minneapolis, and a lot of the tech colleges in the area have done away with their machine tool programs. The high school programs are a joke, because the schools spend god-only-knows how much on diversity coordinators and self-esteem-enablers and other such worthless nonsense, and the metal shop gets stuck with worn-out junk from the 1920’s. Most of the companies in my area are hiring people with high school educations and training them themselves.


28 posted on 09/03/2007 11:33:15 AM PDT by lesser_satan (Fred Thompson '08)
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To: Little Bill
Remember it only takes one dumb ass to disrupt a crew.

Truer words were never written!

29 posted on 09/03/2007 11:33:22 AM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
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To: RightWhale

That’s why we need to privatize health care. If individuals got the same tax break for their health insurance premiums that employers do and could by their insurance from any state then health insurance would be truly portable and no concern of any employer.

The incentive for “ageism” in the workplace would evaporate utterly.


30 posted on 09/03/2007 11:33:26 AM PDT by sinanju
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To: 2nd amendment mama

You are dealing with people who are proactively trying to learn. I’m talking about people who just get hired. College students and the like are already very literate in that area. Most retired and older workers seem more timid in that area. Some of it is due to gaming I think. Gamers tend to be more computer-literate.


31 posted on 09/03/2007 11:35:19 AM PDT by AppyPappy (If you aren't part of the solution, there is good money to be made prolonging the problem.)
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To: AppyPappy

my experience is that they are the least willing to embrace new technology


My experience was the opposite. The key in my experience was the pre-install training. Once workers see the benefits of new technology they usually embrace it unless they are so pro union that they still thinks it takes 3 to change a light bulb. Two to change while one is on some sort of break. Everyone I worked with embraced new tech and a few of us joked that many of the old timers were more high tech than the youngsters and certainly more dependable.


32 posted on 09/03/2007 11:35:35 AM PDT by Joan Kerrey (Believe nothing of what you hear or read and half of what you see.)
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To: afraidfortherepublic
Funny thing happened to me one day -- I found out that a Dean of Engineering of a local University and his wife -- both educated with higher degrees -- were uncomfortable with the word "profit"! They treated it like a dirty word? I wonder how they thought they got their bread and butter (and all their fancy hobbies -- motorcycles, horses, etc) if it didn't come from the PROFIT earned by the taxpayers???

That's HILARIOUS.

I once had a co-worker (and this was a smart guy in most respects) tell me that he thought it was wrong that shareholders in a company should receive dividends. It was like they made money for contributing nothing, he said.

I worked very hard to disabuse him of the notion of a profit-free economy, and I'm not sure I ever did really succeed.

33 posted on 09/03/2007 11:36:24 AM PDT by Oberon (What does it take to make government shrink?)
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To: sinanju

Sure, but isn’t happening. The river is flowing downhill and will continue to do so.


34 posted on 09/03/2007 11:36:32 AM PDT by RightWhale (It's Brecht's donkey, not mine)
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To: patton

how about your continuously expanding plow business? ;)


35 posted on 09/03/2007 11:36:38 AM PDT by leda (19yrs ... only 4,981yrs to go ;))
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To: NittanyLion

Electronics assembly and test, polymer molding, light machining, automatic machine operation. All basic manufacturing stuff.


36 posted on 09/03/2007 11:37:44 AM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
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To: afraidfortherepublic

Even though an older employee has a different scale of stamina they more than make up in skill, myself I am 50, been at my current job for 12 years and I can do more quality work in 4 hours than two younger guys in a full shift, I do not waste my movements, I know ahead of time my tool selection and because I have done it before many times over the years I am prepared for surprises as a heavy equipment mechanic. I often get surprised looks from my employers when asked when it will be done, I say its already BEEN done. However I am looking ahead to the start of my golden years and doing less physical time demanding work. In essense i wish to make more but work less, these employers WILL pay for that kind of expertise if its truly of high scale. nobody ever wants to master anything anymore they just want to be grafted with a cellphone to their head.


37 posted on 09/03/2007 11:37:49 AM PDT by Eye of Unk
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To: Oberon

Another really good field is HVAC, especially the commercial side.
Most bldgs. have computer controlled systems now so that skill is a must also.


38 posted on 09/03/2007 11:38:25 AM PDT by Vinnie (You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Jihads You)
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To: afraidfortherepublic

best are over 70 ? what are the younger kids..in their 50’s ?


39 posted on 09/03/2007 11:39:52 AM PDT by stylin19a (Go Bears !)
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To: afraidfortherepublic
Indeed! Nothing is more noble than taking raw materials and turning them into finished goods. I don't know why our schools can't teach that.

It's all political. For some reason, the left-wing dominated academia in this country doesn't think very much of manufacturing. They think it's dirty and vulgar. I think most of the interest being generated in these fields is from the Discovery Channel and History Channel, with Myth Busters, Dirty Jobs, Modern Marvels, and Monster Garage type fare.

40 posted on 09/03/2007 11:39:59 AM PDT by lesser_satan (Fred Thompson '08)
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