20 Jun
2004
20 Jun
'04
10:58 p.m.
Don't forget that there is more then one
generation at work in an industry
at one time. Lots of people on this email list probably work with younger
techs who don't know half of what they do. Once the senior people retire
(or
get fired because they cost too much on a spreadsheet)
its up to the
younger
ones to pull the slack (if they were smart enough to
hire any before the
old
ones got the boot), and quite a few are not up to the
task. It takes time
to
notice your workforce is deficient, and by then its
too late to do
anything
about it.
This is what has happened to the rail industry in Britain, it frightens me
to think of the skills that have been lost -particularly in track
maintenance -not very high tech. you may think , but the number of
crashes/accidents we've had since privatisation started on an accountant's
spreadsheet. The fact that the industry now swallows more money for an
inferior service is common knowledge , we all know where the money goes
(went - it's called asset stripping ) but vested interest and political
lethargy prevent any radical solution.As with our health service there is
now an inverted bloated bureaucratic pyramid stuffed full of accountants and
clerks.
Geoff.