Job eliminations

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38 posts Page 3 of 3
I never used one quite that old, but when I first started here in the lab we were running the HP RTE-A mini computer for the 5995 and 5970 mass specs and later fed the data from the integrators from the 5890s into it so we could produce the EPA-CLP data packages.

The first PC attached to a mass spec we had was a 386 attached to a 5971 running W3.11 and chemstation. We had it set to quant the samples at the end of each run and the GC would actually cool back down to 35C before the computer could calculate results for a method with 36 compounds. The we got the first Pentium II and I kept waiting for it to quant and realized it was doing it so fast I missed it scroll the results through at the bottom of the window.

Now days I have people I train who are not even patient enough to wait for a result that appears immediately when you click OK.
The past is there to guide us into the future, not to dwell in.
This trend of getting rid of higher-paid (older) employees seems to be in fashion in U.S. Mrs. Consumer Products Guy mentioned that almost everybody we know over 55 years old from private industry has been released somehow and is now trying to make ends meet being "a consultant". So lots of consultant shingles hanging up here....
I'm not quite 55 yet but got the boot after 26+ years. I'm doing QC now and making out pretty well as that time frame allowed me the max. severance package :)

In my case, it wasn't "fire the old guys because they make too much" as much as it was "lower the head count so we can sell this division". Same result.
Thanks,
DR
Image
Consumer Products Guy wrote:
This trend of getting rid of higher-paid (older) employees seems to be in fashion in U.S. Mrs. Consumer Products Guy mentioned that almost everybody we know over 55 years old from private industry has been released somehow and is now trying to make ends meet being "a consultant". So lots of consultant shingles hanging up here....


It was all the trend in SA also, with the added advantage to the bean counters and brown nosers that they could label it as transformation by replacing the old one with a young one fresh out of college. It didn't work well.

Peter
Peter Apps
Peter Apps wrote:
Consumer Products Guy wrote:
This trend of getting rid of higher-paid (older) employees seems to be in fashion in U.S. Mrs. Consumer Products Guy mentioned that almost everybody we know over 55 years old from private industry has been released somehow and is now trying to make ends meet being "a consultant". So lots of consultant shingles hanging up here....


It was all the trend in SA also, with the added advantage to the bean counters and brown nosers that they could label it as transformation by replacing the old one with a young one fresh out of college. It didn't work well.

Peter


Most places learn to late that it is not so easy to replace experience with youth. What they save in salary they lose when needing the "consultants" to make up for the lack of knowledge, or just in lost productivity.

Environmental labs have always had the problem of trying to cut costs any way possible. When I started here 25 years ago we had seven degreed chemist in the chromatography department alone, now we have three in the whole lab. They didn't fire any, but replaced any that left with techs.

I just turned 50, so I have been watching closely how things are trending, but I feel safe so far because the new graduates I am seeing are demanding higher salaries than the older workers. Starting out is way more expensive now than it was when I first graduated from college.
The past is there to guide us into the future, not to dwell in.
DR,

Just noticed your location, not so far from me it seems.
The past is there to guide us into the future, not to dwell in.
James_Ball wrote:
DR,

Just noticed your location, not so far from me it seems.


I have a daughter who went to Murray...
Thanks,
DR
Image
Hilltopper (WKU) myself, but several at the lab went to Murray.
The past is there to guide us into the future, not to dwell in.
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