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Musical Employment Chairs – Who’s Left Standing? 


 

By Craig Lloyd, LaundryCareers.com

I once said, “Owner Operators, multi-plant senior managers and equipment manufacturers – the Day of Reckoning is quickly approaching.   Although our industry appreciates the technological advances and the accompanying production efficiencies / labor savings we are simply playing musical chairs with the available talent to diagnose and repair today’s equipment.  The talent pool of chief engineers are represented by the chairs, the operators / senior managers are circling the chairs and the equipment manufacturers are playing the music.   Each time a chief engineer retires a chair is taken away, leaving one more operator / senior manager hoping that an assistant chief engineer is ready to be promoted.”

Well, the Day of Reckoning has arrived, but with a few extra slants.  Whereas I previously stated the equipment manufacturers were “playing the music” the talent shortage now has their field tech managers circling the chairs as well.  Honestly it is the entire industrial and institutional sectors in the United States playing the music while the chairs represent all laundry industry maintenance skilled employees.   Meanwhile, those of us in our industry circling the chairs are limping with a hobbled leg as we try to compete with both the “cleaner” industries and / or higher paying industries.  

We can point the finger at the root causes, starting with deficiencies in our schools, but how many parents nationwide have encouraged their high school teens to go to a four year college instead of a trade / tech school.   In a recent conversation with a client in my generation I reminded him how “back in the day” fathers would periodically be out in the driveway with their son – car hood up and troubleshooting / replacing something on either the family car or the son’s car.  We agreed that type of activity created an interest to figure out answers to mechanical problems and enjoy the accomplishment of fixing the problem in a hands-on fashion. The advanced technology in today’s automobiles has minimized those opportunities for intriguing today’s teens into a vocation requiring trade skills. 

One of the psychological roadblocks that existed even 28 years ago when I was the director of staffing for National Linen and Uniform’s 72 plants was the chief engineer mindset of not sharing valuable information with his better techs. Why not? Job security.  This still goes on today and as our chief engineers “age out” of their career towards retirement. The owner or general manager is left without a good “number two” who can take over as the chief.  Somehow there needs to be a genuine agreement with their chief to placate their job security anxiety with the goal of developing their staff.  In our industry we have always pointed to the biggest expense as labor which supports the need for a highly competent plant production manager, but lurking in the shadows is the ugly reality of downtime as well as the equipment assets that experience a shorter life due to inadequate PMs. 

Of course part of the equation is once you employ a competent chief and /or maintenance tech / field tech how do you keep them? 

Several years ago I placed a field tech with a national laundry equipment manufacturer, but after several months he called me to express his concerns regarding working 2 weeks straight. But it was the little things that actually got to him.  Getting in late from a travel trip on a Sunday only to have a conference call scheduled for 8 am the following morning was a signal to him that he was not appreciated.  He resigned and accepted a similar position with a competitor and has been happy ever since.

Many years ago I placed a chief with a nationwide operator and from the very beginning the GM and the regional engineer remarked to me how extremely pleased they were with his performance.   When an organizational change a couple of years later created a different regional VP, the chief felt that every time the RVP would visit the plant he would berate the chief for not doing enough.   After a year of negative comments from “senior management” he elected to retire early. Guess what – three months later they still have not been able to find and hire a replacement.  A seven day hospitality linen plant in Las Vegas recently lost a newly hired assistant chief engineer because the owner began calling him in on his day off for non-emergency repairs. 

The message here is to create and maintain a positive working environment. If you don’t your employee can – and will – find someone who will. 

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Craig Lloyd is owner of LaundryCareers.com, a staffing source for the laundry industry. He graduated from Rider College with an Industrial Relations degree and began his recruiting career at the Bell Oaks Company, one of the largest recruitment firms in the Southeast. Craig then worked for Premier Industrial Corporation, a Fortune 500 company where he recruited and hired sales reps for six Southeast divisions. His career in the laundry industry began when he was tapped as director of staffing and relocation for 72 National Linen Service plants in Atlanta. Craig has received the Consultant of the Year award from the Georgia Association of Personnel Consultants and he holds a Certified Personnel Consultant designation, which requires passing exams on federal and state laws, as well as ethics. His motto is “Earn trust and build credibility, the rest will take care of itself.”