Yea, I know… my shoulder hurts ’cause I am patting myself on the back. It’s Wednesday, and I’m on schedule!

Engineering a Demand

The country is facing a critical shortage of engineers. Young adults in college are choosing higher-paying jobs in healthcare and finance rather than moving into engineering. This national shortage has led to the poaching engineers from other companies with big signing bonuses–a practice once unheard of in the industry. The shortage has also led companies to recruit foreign engineers. Some companies are moving research jobs out of the country to places like Vietnam and India where engineers are more prevalent.

It sure is tough finding engineers here in the US. Just think what it is like in Japan, the “country” in question.

Retirees Living Longer

The number of people age 65 and older rose to 21.5% of the population. Those age 75 and older accounted for nearly 10% of the population. People living longer, women having less children, and a population below the replacement rate of workers have lead to warnings of an imminent pension and retirement crisis.

Glad to know it’s those pesky Japanese again. I was worried it was going to happen here too…

Letting Them Walk Away In Their Shoes

My son (the recently graduated one, not the one who is still sucking the financial life out of us and will be for the next 6+ years) recently bought some shoes from Zappos, and all he could do was talk about the wonderful customer service he received on the phone from one of the CSR’s.  I did some investigating and found out something quite interesting about Zappos…

They give you $1000 if you quit prior to being hired.  That’s right, they put you through a four week paid training, and before you accept a full time job, they give you a choice.  Take the money and run, or commit yourself to our environment of customer delight.

It sure is easier (and far less expensive) to fire someone before they are hired.  Some things just make common cents!

They Like Me….

I just turned in my article on Rewards & Recognition for Human Resource Executive magazine, it will be in their July issue.  They gave me 1800 words, I took 1920, and then talked them into giving me about 200 more in a sidebar…

It’s a sickness… And I don’t want the cure!