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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2009 > July > 12 > Entry
Ellen Belcher: Find them jobs, NCR’s people will stay
You can bet that NCR Corp. employees who don’t want to move to Georgia, and those who are skeptical the company intends to take very many Daytonians when it leaves, aren’t sitting still.
Neither should Dayton be — or area employers.
This is an opportunity for Dayton businesses and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base to easily recruit top talent that is here and likes Dayton. Recruiting is expensive and time-consuming; here’s a chance to do it cheaply and to have confidence that new hires will be happy where they’re living.
If all the institutions and people who say they want to defeat the brain drain don’t step up in the wake of NCR’s move, then their talk is just talk.
On Monday, June 29, Sinclair Community College organized a meeting to discuss how to pounce on the problem of keeping NCR employees in the community.
More than 1,200 people work for the company; many have long tenures here and professional skills. Not all of them can follow NCR to Georgia because they have spouses who have jobs here, or because they have family members they want to be near, or they don’t think it’s the right time for their children to change schools.
In the end, people will make agonizing personal decisions based on what’s best for them — not what’s right for NCR or Dayton.
But holding on to people who are on the fence about leaving, or who would stay if they could land a job, can’t be left to chance. Dayton employers have to reach out to precious home-grown talent.
Because of the Base Realignment and Closure process, Wright-Patterson is getting hundreds of new jobs and seeing an influx of defense contractors.
Among the skills both the Air Force and contractors are looking for are project managers, people with procurement experience and IT professionals. These job descriptions overlap nicely with what some NCR people do.
More specifically, NCR’s IT people are schooled in Oracle, the complex and sophisticated software program that Air Force operations run on. What NCR employees do with database management, for instance, is wholly transferable and relevant to military applications.
Most important to the NCR people: Wright-Patterson is in the middle of managing a massive project called ECSS — Expeditionary Combat Support System.
It’s a wholesale overhaul to integrate more than 400 Air Force computer systems. The Air Force and their contractors can’t have too many Oracle people.
NCR’s leaving creates a problem different from the job loss that the Dayton area has gotten good at dealing with, says Deb Norris, vice president of workforce development and corporate services at Sinclair Community College.
Local leaders and officials know how to reach out to people in manufacturing who lose their jobs (because that’s been happening for so long). There’s a good road map for getting people to the county’s Job Center and to Sinclair.
But now, instead of working with people who need training, the challenge is to work with those who are already well-trained.
New approaches and different outreach efforts have to be invented to get people placed. They could include private job fairs, virtual spaces where employees can anonymously leave their profiles so local employers can contact them and informal networking events.
The Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce has offered to take the lead on the efforts to market Dayton to NCR people and to mine chamber contacts to let employers know that NCR people are in the hunt. It can’t be taken for granted that everybody knows the gold mine that is here.
The chamber’s job isn’t going to be easy, because NCR will want to hang on to some people as long as it can before it cuts out. And NCR is not going to be eager to broadcast just how many people are being told they’re no longer needed. Employers can’t jump on this chance if they don’t know the specific qualifications and skill sets the employees have.
Nonetheless, this is the chamber’s chance. It has to show what it can do when a problem hits and that it knows how to do important economic development work that makes a difference.
It will need help, but the pressure is on to show urgency, make things happen and account for what it does.
Permalink | Comments (10) | Post your comment | Categories: Columns, Economy, Ellen Belcher, Local Business, Wright Patterson Air Force Base
Comments
By Michael
July 12, 2009 1:56 AM | Link to this
Great idea! Let’s try to convince private sector employees to start working for the military industrial complex like half of the Dayton area already is. Eventually Dayton can just become a giant government job factory, and we won’t even need Wal-Mart when everyone shops at the PX.By NCR Blues
July 12, 2009 8:43 AM | Link to this
NCR employees considered for the move to Georgia need to immediately address the situation. You are in in a precarious position. There are those in Ga. that have already been contacted to fill your Dayton position in Ga. Dayton may not be able to fill your career needs if you decide to stay in Dayton. If any “promises” by NCR are made concerning your move and employment in Ga., look at it warily. Immediately begin your job search NOW. You are “flotsom & jetsom” (you will float off the sinking ship, or you’ll be jettisoned), so I suggest you quit panicking, contact anyone you know or job sites for job leads, pay attention to what Sinclair can find out, and immediately realize you’re “not in Kansas anymore.” Your life will begin to change in ways you possibly have not experienced before…and not for the better in most cases. My former employer (Northwest Airlines) did this to 1600 of us in 2002. (Caused by 9/11). The damage has not been repaired yet. You are in danger, try beyond your best to minimize your losses. It will work, but you’ll get very tired and worn down doing it. It’ll also help to pray to whatever diety you profess to pray to. Good luck…please don’t give up.By lj
July 12, 2009 8:52 AM | Link to this
There are people at NCR that may be able to cross over to DOD type work. For the most part, people in the manufacturing sector - assembly line workers, do not have the skill set to be even considered for employment at a DOD facility. Be it here in Dayton or, at sites across the country. It appears as though Georgia is capable of attracting Business. Consider NCR and now, KIA building a new plant for SUV production. Ohio is losing in many ways.By lj
July 12, 2009 5:56 PM | Link to this
The city of dayton did have allot to offer in the past. With jobs, shopping, economical housing and a fairly low cost of living. This has changed. Few jobs in the private sector - (jobs that pay a living wage). And, a living wage is more than service industry pay. Not necessarily high pay but, enough to be considered middle class. Shopping and stores left dayton many years ago. Sure, plenty of vacant homes now… Mainly foreclosed. And, if one has a job, one could buy a home. However, the school system in Dayton city limits is sub standard at best. Dayton is not quite “paradise”. It is an old dying city that failed to have any long range planning. Dayton has a high crime rate with plenty of drugs, prostitution and murders. Dayton better wise up. Of course, I always thought of a dying city bus tour for tourists. They could see all the closed factories, the overloaded food banks, and the crime on the streets. Perhaps the buses should be armored.By Turbo
July 12, 2009 7:24 PM | Link to this
Ellen, you are right on. I worked for a company that was bought out. If we wanted to keep our jobs, we had to move to Minneapolis. Many did but a year or two later, we were replaced. Seemed like we were there long enought to train our replacements. Hmmm. The Dayton Region is blessed with an abundance of talented, well-trained professionals. Let’s keep them here to enrich our talent pool. I can see the headline now: Dayton takes care of its own.By scooby do
July 13, 2009 7:52 AM | Link to this
Hate to ruin a party here but there are many people here that ARE NOT NCR employees that are also out of a job. I get the feeling they really do not matter. These people are looking for jobs NOW with very little success, and they are talented people.By David Laughlin
July 15, 2009 7:24 PM | Link to this
I expect a response.By opie
July 16, 2009 4:13 PM | Link to this
NCR employees, don’t be fooled by “NCR offers” to have you relocate to Georgia. They truly need your knowlege when they move, but will toss you away once they are established in Ga. Do your homework, they are moving for one reason, labor is cheap in Georgia. That means if you go, expect to earn less… Yet the cost of living is higher than Dayton. All this coupled with traffic nightmares and higher taxes (Gwinett Co. considering doubling taxes this year)makes for a rude reminder of what “just business” really means. You have already invested in your community and schools, Georgia’s growth has a hefty pricetag attached with it, and suckers that move there will regret it..By Shirley
July 17, 2009 10:23 PM | Link to this
I am a former NCR employee, I lost my job there Oct. 2003, if the news media was paying attention NCR started moving out of Dayton back then. NCR shipped their call center and help desk to India. Where was the news media then. Also, NCR received the same deal from Columbia, SC new building and tax break, what they are doing now they are moving those jobs from Columbia, SC to Georgia. NCR next step from Georgia will be India, cheap labor.By Shirley
July 17, 2009 10:31 PM | Link to this
Turbo you sound like a formal employee of Carlson Marketing/EF MacDonald, I worked there for 10 years, they moved to Minneapolis