Boeing temp employees

[MillCreek]

I know that we have some former Boeing and Boeing contract employees here.  I cut and pasted the below paragraph from a MSNBC article on the rise to temporary workers.  I think back of how my Dad was an aeronautical engineer at Boeing from 1950 to 1990, retiring at age 65, and how unlikely it is for any of us to have such a long career at a single employer any more.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34769831/ns/business-careers


Boeing typifies the companies that are taking advantage of flexibility. In 2009, it cut 1,500 contingent workers from its commercial division. Says spokesman Jim Proulx: "The first imperative was to reduce all of the contract and contingent labor that we possibly could to shield our regular employees from those layoffs." Boeing says less than 3 percent of its workforce is contingent. It has also reduced its dependence on costly permanent staff in the U.S. by making new hires abroad. Last March it announced a research and development center in Bangalore that will "coordinate the work of more than 1,500 technologists, including 100 advanced technology researchers, from across India." Bill Dugovich, a spokesman for Boeing's white-collar union in the U.S., the SPEEA, complains that the Indian workers "are basically contract labor."

[Northwoods]

Not quite sure what you point is.  Contractors have always been an insurance policy for the directs.  Name of the game.  Don't like it, don't play.  I knew the risks going into contracting. 

Over the long run it's often a better way to go financially, but I got bit by the downside early on after making the jump to contract work.  Other downside is you have to be willing to go where the work is which can be hard on a family.

[Gewehr98]

We've been playing the same game in my company.  Contractors = temps in the general scheme of things, and are the first to get furloughed.  They aren't kept in the dark, it's part of their hiring paperwork.

[MillCreek]

As I was growing up in Seattle, Boeing largely epitomized the large stable company that you could work for your entire life.  Yes, they had periodic layoffs, but employees were generally rehired as the economy and orders picked up.  I was the only one of my four siblings who did not work for Boeing.  

As a native of the area, I just find it interesting that Boeing has gone the temp route as has so many other companies.   Those of us here who did not grow up in Seattle or had family working for Boeing may not find this story of particular significance.  

[Balog]

Kind of an interesting story, but not really political.

[Gewehr98]

Per fellow moderator Balog's suggestion, thread topic moved. 

[RocketMan]

The early 70's was my first real exposure to an economic downturn where I had some idea of what was happening.  We were living in Issaquah at the time, and it seemed that half our neighbors were out of work due to a downturn in business at Boeing.  I remember reading about laid off Boeing PhDs reduced sweeping floors for a living.

edited for spelling

[AJ Dual]

As an IT contractor for the past 13 years before taking my first direct hire position in over a decade, the upsides to a business are almost too numerous to count.

Employee payroll does not come off the company profit and loss statement. "Fees" paid to a contracting firm are an "expense". It's similar to the same savings a business enjoys when leasing vs. owning it's facilities.

No Payroll taxes. No FICA match, no benefits etc. Of course the contracting firm picks those up built into it's fees, unless of course the contracting firm is taking things a step further and offshoring, or working it's people as 1099 independent contractors, but it's also the overhead of administering all those things the main company saves on.

[HankB]

Based on his past history, Boeing's current CEO knows only two ways to manage a company: Six Sigma and layoffs.

Once these have run their course and he's out of ideas, he'll either move on or retire.

[De Selby]

As an IT contractor for the past 13 years before taking my first direct hire position in over a decade, the upsides to a business are almost too numerous to count.

Employee payroll does not come off the company profit and loss statement. "Fees" paid to a contracting firm are an "expense". It's similar to the same savings a business enjoys when leasing vs. owning it's facilities.

No Payroll taxes. No FICA match, no benefits etc. Of course the contracting firm picks those up built into it's fees, unless of course the contracting firm is taking things a step further and offshoring, or working it's people as 1099 independent contractors, but it's also the overhead of administering all those things the main company saves on.

This is true - the upsides to business and on economic reports are too numerous to count.

There's just one problem: people's lives get ruined by the lack of security and benefits. 

I've seen too many employer's complaining about how hard it is to find dedicated, responsible employees, only to turn around and hire everyone on short term contracts and promise absolutely nothing beyond pay for hours worked.  They do that, and then complain all weekend over a beer about how the employees they hired do nothing but the bare minimum.   

Funny that, expecting people to be so grateful for a wage that they'll do everything to keep the boss happy...even when the boss promises nothing in return.

[AJ Dual]

There's just one problem: people's lives get ruined by the lack of security and benefits.  

Honestly, it cuts both ways.

When you are a "temp" you're still often a full-time benefited employee of the contracting firm, or your paid so well, you can source your own benefits. At least that's the case with situation's like we're discussing here, Boeing, which were certainly engineers, accountants, and IT folk. This can create enhanced job security, and actually has worked in my favor in the past.

If the end-employer is making cuts or is going out of business, the contracting firm may have other work lined up for you. Or if you are valuable enough, they have "bench pay" to keep you in their employ until they find you another job site. The direct hire employees who were supposedly "better off" are thrown back into the job market to fend for themselves.

I've been at more than one business as a contractor where the entire IT department was getting cut, usually for a offsite data center (still within the company, but located out of state) and all the direct hire employees who enjoyed "stability" and always looked at contractors with a mild case of disdain, or perhaps pity had their eyes opened. Most all of us either had bench pay, or other jobs lined up with our firms already. The few who didn't were niche consultants who were pulling down three figures an hour and didn't care if they were out of work for a few months. To them it was a vacation.

[Gewehr98]

Funny that, expecting people to be so grateful for a wage that they'll do everything to keep the boss happy...even when the boss promises nothing in return.

Honestly, in an age when folks here with graduate degrees are getting rejected in job apps left and right, should our expectations of landing The Perfect Job really be so prominent?  IOW, times are hard.  A job puts bread on the table, whether you're a temp, contractor, or full hire.  Methinks there's a paradigm shift in full swing...

[Tallpine]

I know that we have some former Boeing and Boeing contract employees here.

I was a contract employee of a subcontractor to a subcontractor to a subcontrator to Boeing.    Actually, I'm still "employed" but don't have any hours except for a short stint this fall to fix some legacy s/w for another client company.

Overall, I like it this way.  The good part is that I don't live in the Sound area so my cost of living is about one-quarter while my quality of life is exponentially better IMO.  Most times I just work offsite - only going somewhere for meetings and other BS.  The pay is good enough that if I could just average 10 hours a week, I would be happy with that.  Not going to get rich that way, but I like my lifestyle and it would do me little good to die rich in a few years. 

[Waitone]

Boeing's Dreamliner was supposed to redefine how the company did business.  Dreamliner was to become a design firm and contract administrators.  Manufacturing and assembly was to be done by contractors under the watchful eye of Boeing contract administrator.  The move was supposed to impact fixed assets section of the balance sheets.  Well, things didn't work out as planned.  Suppliers and contractors work product would not mate with another supplier's work product.  Bottom line the company got way behind resulting in a hit to shareholder value and grousing from the financial community. 

So what did Boeing do?  It returned to the future by bringing manufacture and assembly back in house.  In other words, Boeing re-entered the world of manufacturing which is something a growing number of economists say the US will have to do if there is any hope of pulling out of our economic malaise with any vigor.  Only time will tell if the world financial community will agree.

[Northwoods]

When Boeing did the 777 they pretty much hired all the engineers as directs.  The % of contractors was really low.  When that program came to an end and they had to downstaff because they couldn't afford to start the 787 right away they got burned bad by the expense of canning that many directs.  So, story I heard was that they decided to target 30% of the 787 engineering staff as contract labor.  Shoppers are more expensive while they are there, but they are way cheaper to hire and free to fire.