Eastern Railroad Discussion > Should railroads invest in workers?

The Business Roundtable, an association of large US companies, has called for businesses to invest a lot more in employee training. In a notable break with 50 years of orthodoxy, they also acknowledged an obligation to employees and the environment. In addition to share owners.


https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/19/business/business-roundtable-ceos-corporations.html

Posted from Android

Absolutely not, piss'em all off and make them leave and boy will that cut expenses!! Uh, as competitive
as hiring has become and as difficult as filing training classes seems to be, might be an idea to take care
of those you've got. Not that's an original idea, just seems most Boards don't get the point.

Out

I think they should but in this day and age with most of the freight railroads infested with "activist investors" that notion is out the door. So called "Precision Scheduled Railroading" (PSR) and the folks in manament with their short term mindset, there isIts just short term gain. No way they will invest in their workers. And that is too bad. No one, it seams, is interested in long term sustained growth. All about Now, Now, Now.

SantaFeRuss

Posted from Android

How do you hold off Karl Ican, etc.?

Bob Wilcox
Charlottesville, VA
My Flickr Shots

I prefer not to be cynical, but it's easy to talk about improving the employer-employee relationship when the economy is good and profits are easy to come by. Let's see what happens to the employer-employee relationship when the economy takes a dive. Nor do I believe that there will be any improvement in the employer-employee relationship in those sectors of the economy where management-union strife has been the order of the day for decades.  

There's always a risk that the people you invest in will take that skill as they go someplace else.

But, working in a place where you are valued has some advantages. I've worked in some really abusive places that paid well, and places that paid badly as you learned a lot.

Acknowledging workers have rights sounds like progress.

Posted from Android

Uh, acknowledging that your workers make your enterprise actually function, sound like an idea?

Out