Okay, since I get two posts per day I had to comment on this one as well. I just had to shake my head when I read this news. Though there may be some marginal benefit to the Mexican people who train and pick up those jobs, this kind of race to the bottom in terms of benefits and compensation by local companies always worries me.
Thomas Friedman writes about globalization in "The Lexus and the Olive Tree," both the positive aspects such as the spread of ideas and innovation, and the negative ones like massive worker displacements and the proliferation of the junk food emporia like McDonalds, etc. The issue is quite complex, of course, but I wish companies would focus more on long-term strategies of developing their own workforces rather than short-term cost savings of outsourcing good jobs.
In what ways might companies like 3M train and develop their current employees to get even better and more creative results in Research and Development departments? In what ways can cities and counties reward companies that take special initiative to do this, and to keep their current workforces energized and motivated? Perhaps a 6-week sabbatical vacation every few years for good employees would be a motivating force? For many of us in the GenX or Millennial generations we care less about the pay and more about the work/life/family balance; even Boomers are discovering that the pressures of raising teenage children and caring for aging parents is taking its toll.
The City of Saint Paul can be a leader in rewarding fresh, creative thinking on workforce issues beyond just vanilla job-training efforts. Though the county and state also have roles in this, good political ideas usually start locally and then spread if they are recognized as worthy of replicating in other levels of government.
Okay, another $0.02 and that's a total of $0.04 for the day. My penny jar still looks pretty full but I believe in Tim Erickson's rule about 2 posts per day. More people get their ideas heard (or read) that way.
Cristy Highland Park
P.S. There is a free conference on April 14/15 in downtown Saint Paul on "Leading Change" in healthcare workforce development sponsored by U's Academic Health Center, where I am consulting these days. To check it out: http://www.ahc.umn.edu/home/workforce/home.html
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