Free engineers to be engineers
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RSS FeedThe writer works as an auto industry analyst for Synthesis Partners LLC.
To the Editor:
I found the Oct. 1 article on Detroit's engineer shortage interesting ("Brain drain?").
I wonder: How much nonengineering work do companies have those professionals doing? I have seen it in a lot of places I've worked, particularly in the medical arena.
A company hires a highly trained professional who ends up doing everything but what he or she was hired (and trained) to do: attending useless meetings, running fundraising efforts, participating in mandatory fun events, doing administrative work.
It was so bad at one place I worked that I jokingly suggested the company hire a group of people at a lower wage just to attend meetings so the professionals could get back to what they were being paid to do.
Maybe Nissan North America's Carla Bailo and other executives should take a look at how much nonengineering work their existing engineers are having to do and maybe hire some lower-cost assistants to handle those tasks and free the engineers to be engineers, not administrative workers.
