Barry Bonds and the Workforce Crisis
February 19, 2008 | by brett | Permalink
I’m writing this post as much for me as I am you. The term “workforce crisis” haunts me every day as co-workers casually toss it around while authors cash in on educating employers on the topic. The term has become ambient noise to me, and I’m not a hundred percent sure on what it is. In two days I have to explain what the workforce crisis is to three hundred high school students that probably will care less, that is, unless I can make it interesting. So here goes.
The workforce crisis is an issue of highly knowledgeable, experienced workers making their way out of the workforce, either retiring or cutting down their hours to a part time level. Their substitutes are less skilled, responsibility adverse workers. The B team basically, that expects A level pay and benefits. Additionally, a numbers game issue has found its way into this crisis. While grandma and grandpa were popping out three, four, five, thirteen children after WWII, which eventually equated into a huge labor pool, the next generation had significantly less babies, making the labor pool a little slimmer. That means that not every job will be able to be filled with the talent afforded by a large pool. The workforce crisis is a case of not being able to fill the shoes as well as they had previously been filled.
Being a huge San Francisco Giants, baseball, and Barry Bonds fan (in that order), ignoring this crisis is like what the Giants will be experiencing this year. For years everyone from the guy selling peanuts to the average fan to Barry himself knew that he could not play forever. The Giants faced an impending crisis of life After Barry (which will hereon be referred to as A.B.). But what did they do about it? Nothing. They operated as if he could play forever. They couldn’t find a replacement because of the shortage of talented players in the free agent market. And then they ended up paying WAY too much for Aaron Rowand (5yrs, 60 million), a B minus level outfielder that won’t be able to attract nearly as many fans or put up half the production. Barry’s locker, larger than some apartments in Manhattan, has not been occupied by any player because it represents the shoes any player who assumes the locker will be expected to fill.
A.B. will be ugly for the Giants this season. Don’t let the workforce crisis be ugly for you.
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Steve Says:
February 21st, 2008
The workforce crisis is real. It is very important for the students you speak to in that they need to understand the work environment that they will be going into. Most companies do keep their head in the sand, just like the Giants, and don’t look past today. The Giants will pay for that ufortunately, as will many companies for not having the courage to face reality. I suppose it is our instant gratification society. There is local pressure on teh Warriors to trade an upcoming franchise young player for a vet for a playoff run. Again, bad move.
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