PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE The Kids Are Still Alright
IT SEEMS THAT EVERY GENERATION despairs at the state of the next generation. Whether it was the Silent Generation who fought World II and looked aghast at the spectacle of the Baby Boomers at Woodstock or the Baby Boomers looking perplexed at Generation X and our new-fangled video games and the internet. The previous generations all seem to be collectively deriding the millennials for being digital natives stuck to their smartphones and receiving participation trophies. It seems to be a national pastime to regard the previous generation as staid and stuck in their ways. We also seem to relish in regarding the subsequent generation as lazy, soft, and lacking suffi cient motivation. As sure as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, this seems to be the natural course of things.
We have all shared various challenges over the past 2 years. Among the most common that come up in my conversations with NARSA/IDEA members are rising shipping costs, supply chain disruptions, and rapidly increasing commodity prices. However, the number one complaint is fi nding qualifi ed people to work. Various reasons are spoken about from generous unemployment
benefi ts to people just not wanting to work. Inevitably, I hear that the millennials are somehow not nearly as eff ective and hardworking as “we” were. My company is in the same boat, and we have really struggled to fi nd qualifi ed personnel that know how to work with their hands. We have lately been successful in bringing on some young hires who have done well and have promising futures in our company.
At a meeting a few months ago with my management team, I asked why they thought we were having trouble fi nding people to fi ll our production positions. I constantly heard about the unemployment benefi ts being the main reason. However, as I have gotten older, I have tried to not let myself get too bent out of shape about something I can’t control, least of all the federal government. I was up one night contemplating this issue we were having in fi lling positions when it occurred to me that the existence of this program was essentially a massive workforce job interview. While everyone had various reasons for staying home, I realized that those that did want to work and were actively seeking employment were the types of employees who did not feel content to stay home and felt motivated
By Bobby Duran NARSA President / 2020–2022
bobby@cscradiator.com
to work. They were not thinking about the short-term gain but longer-term opportunities. This is precisely the type of people we want at our company.
Traditionally, we’ve tried to hire employees with a lot more experience. Under the present circumstances, this has been a tall order. We immediately decided to contact every tech school in the area as well as leverage our greatest resource, our own employees. We set up a bonus for current employees who bring in new hires that last through our probationary period. We slowly started getting new hires and integrating them into our team and culture. Nearly all were young millennials and the results have been extremely encouraging. Most had little relevant experience but were eager to learn. Our production manager started rotating them through various work stations. They were not intimidated by technology and were happy to try diff erent tasks. We even found that a few had a knack for welding and were quickly moved into that department for further training. While
2 | THE COOLING JOURNAL | September/October 2021
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