Job Woes

The attached photo was taken a couple of weeks ago while I was in Ellicottville New York. They hold an antique car show on their streets and it offered a chance to inspect and photograph some finely restored or modified vehicles built during the last century. I love this old car it reminds me of gangster movies from years ago.

Well let me start by saying that I do honestly love my job but there are days when I would rather collect garbage or mop floors than have to perform some of my duties. The bottom line is I do really love to work with people and see them happy and successful.

The reality of the business world today is that we must respond to the economic pressure that push and pull our business. At times of growth it means to quickly find and hire the staff necessary to meet the demands for an increase in production capability but at other times the reverse becomes true and we must decease staff as production requirements fall. Unfortunately the later is the situation which I find myself in at the moment.

In the last few days I have had to encourage three different people to take the option of retirement when that really wasn’t their wish. A change in legislation here in Ontario will end mandatory retirement in just a couple of months, but for the moment that option still exists and the company wanted to pursuit this while we still had the opportunity. I am left to exercise their option and encourage these people to end their working career with us even though they are both willing and capable to continue working.

As I am aging I realize that many people will reach the age of 65 years and they will still wish to continue to work and be capable of doing all or most of their current duties. The legislated change, though it will be difficult for companies to manage is still fundamentally right. People do not automatically become a liability at a specific age and many will still have the skills, ability and experience to perform well. Agreed that some others may reach a stage in their life where they are not capable of contributing successfully and even earlier than the current retirement age of 65 but is should be left to their employers to address that situation as it occurs.

What prompted the change in the legislation is not a concern for the fair treatment of employees but rather a fear that as the baby boomers leave the workforce they will leave a void for which there will not be sufficient numbers of employable individuals to replace them and meet the demand for labour to keep the wheels of industry turning. Heaven forbid that the current key players within the industrial world should loose ground to the growing ability and industrial capacity from the current third world members.

So pushing people into retirement hasn’t set well with me and added to that I have had one termination for just cause and two resignations which we encouraged where the cause was questionable. I know that it is just part of the job but I don’t have to like it. By the way I have also been wakened at 2:00 a.m. for the last two nights as I mentally prepare for the lay ahead of me for the next day at work.

Okay that is enough of me venting for today. I am now only one day away from a long weekend and I really need to get away from here. I will try to touch base here tomorrow if not I wish you all a happy Thanksgiving weekend. Sorry to our American friends but here in Canada we celebrate Thanksgiving in October rather than your November date south of the border.