Working in a factory is often a tedious, boring, and relentless job. Because of these job characteristics, highly educated workers have not been considered appropriate candidates for such work. Placing educated people in a monotonous job without any possibility for advancement was thought to be a good recipe for turnover. However, this theory is being reconsidered. Both Ford and Chrysler are looking for better-educated employees to staff their automobile lines. The reason? Things are changing.
First, old plants where cars were made by hand by skilled craftsmen are virtually nonexistent. In their place stand high-tech factories. Training the workers who staffed the old plants to run the new ones has been a nightmare. In one specific example, training hours reached one million because of the poor skills of the workers, the vast majority of whom had not even finished high school. By selecting educated employees, a firm's training costs should decline.
Second, team-based management is becoming a necessity. Prior to 1995, Chrysler(www.chrysler.com) had 1 salaried worker for every 25 hourly workers. That figure as now dropped to 1 to 48. Because there are not enough supervisors, workers will have to supervise themselves. Educated workers have more potential to do this than workers who have not finished high school.
Third, the nature of the work is changing. When a line worker notices a problem production, he or she can stop the line, inform the authorities, and help to find a way to fix it. Performing these tasks will require better-educated workers.
Fourth, competition is changing. All of the auto manufacturers have entered the global market, and they need qualified workers to help them succeed. To compete, Ford and Chrysler have begun to use the manufacturing techniques developed by their foreign competitors. However, these competitors select from among the best and brightest graduates from technical schools to employ in their plants: To compete, Ford and Chrysler will have to recruit better-educated employees too.
But what educated worker would want this type of job? Plenty of them. With job opportunities so tight for college graduates, jobs that once were considered beneath them are now viewed as plum. Jeffrey Panchoshan holds an MBA from the University of Windsor, he earned his degree to find a good job. The best job he found was working in a Chrysler car plant in Windsor. He is not alone. Twenty-six percent of the workers hired at the Windsor plant in December 1993 were college graduates. This is quite a change from the situation five short years prior, when 10 percent of the workforce had so much trouble reading and writing English that the union and the company had to institute a remedial education plan for the workers.
Chrysler recently implemented a program to educate and prepare students at the high school level who are potential future employees of the company. One element of the program is a day when the students visit the Chrysler Technology Center and get an in-depth look at the work skills appropriate for the jobs there. Another aspect of the program is courses that are offered at high schools to help ease the transition for those individuals going straight from the classroom to a work environment. And lastly Chrysler offers top high school students apprenticeships with a number of benefits and incentives, including a job when their training is complete. This gives the student hands-on experience and an idea of what to expect when they get into the working world.
The current flood of highly qualified applicants is a very different situation for auto manufacturers than they previously experienced. Twenty and 30 years ago, Ford had trouble getting enough people to show up for work to keep its lines running. Recently, it has 110,000 applicants for 1300 positions. Although this may sound like an enviable position, designing a selection system to weigh each applicants qualifications was no easy process.
To accomplish this task, Ford designed a selection system that incorporated a number of tests and procedures. Specifically, each applicant was given a test that lasted three-and-one-half hours. The test included working math problems, including the use of fractions and percentages, reading technical material and answering questions about it, performing a variety of dexterity tests and demonstrating the ability to work as a team. Applicants who scored in the top half of the group and who had solid work histories were then interviewed by at least two employees who were responsible for selecting the most promising prospects. Then each applicant had to pass a drug test and a physical exam to ensure they had adequate physical ability to perform the job.
What type of employee does a selection system like this choose? About one third attended college, and 4 percent have college degrees. Ninety-seven percent have high school diplomas. Some have completed trade school, and many are military veterans. The average age is higher than the past, nearly 30 years as compared with 17 to 18 years when high school dropouts were hired.
But what about turnover? Can a highly educated person be placed in a dead-end, boring job and be expected to stay? This question will only be answered with time. Both Ford and Chrysler recognize the potential for problems and realize that keeping these employees will be a challenge But they also acknowledge that it takes a different person to build today's cars than it did to build them for these new workers parents.