Thankfully, a growing number of companies are thinking about employee concerns. We need to shift from looking at employees as a cost factor in manufacturing terms to thinking of them as investments based on intellectual capacity. Raychem Corp. has been a pioneer in this area. It also has set up a continuous feedback system and a career center staffed by independent counselors from Collard's Career Action Center. In order to be effective, the programs require that the employers share much more of their management-related information, allowing all employees to better understand how they can fit in with the constant changes that take place within a business.
Employers also show support, with time and resources, for employee learning and job changes.
Such ideas are a major change from the older, mechanistic paradigm because they recognize a need to treat human resources differently from other resources. And they are people who need to have trusting, respectful relationships in order to do their best work. The programs came after a year of planning. She and Pat Hoven, the company's vice president for community and local government affairs, created the initiative. The nature of work for their companies, their employees, and everybody is changing.