Monday, May 15, 2006

Attrition warfare (update)

I found a little more about the attrition rates at Dell's tech support. I spoke to one guy today who had twenty-nine people in his class (XPS Gold, a higher level of tech support than I am in). Five were hired in the first round, after about six months as temps. Two in the second, a couple months later. Two more were let go.

So, seven out of thirty are now "Dell-badged", which gives us 76.8% attrition. Sounds bad, yes?

No, it doesn't. What happened to the other twenty-one people? According the people I talked to, the biggest wasters of new employees are finding other jobs or poor attendance. In class every day, I observe: some of the most talented people are interviewing elsewhere. (Heck, Nissan is paying part-timers over $16 an hour.) Some of the least are just not the people who will make that boring commitment to be at work twenty minutes early every day.

Everyone is very friendly there; I've not seen a lot of cranky people about. (Just one, who is likely to be my boss. Argh.) I am sure it is a high-pressure environment. I am not sure how I feel about that: it will be either a great experience or a horrible one, I'm sure. And who cares? I will last at least six or eight months, and I will be saving a good part of my income, and time will tell after that.

ETA:

You know, I have no idea what "ETA" means, apart from Estimated Time of Arrival. But I see other bloggers use it, so...

Last night I checked the phone lines and found nothing that could be causing the problem. Either this apartment complex or the phone company has a wiring snafu, which creates a problem, as one roommate thinks he needs to call the apartment managers, and the others think they need to call the phone company. So, again, no phone for a while.

I went to an Episcopal church here in town yesterday. The contrast with Bethel Murfreesboro was pretty extreme. I would rather not badmouth a particular church or congregation in public (or as public as this gets) but I suppose I would rather have my quota of stiff formality in some place other than church. More looking is in order.

I am halfway through Tocqueville's Democracy in America and The Theban Plays of Sophocles.

Because someone asked: to post comments at this blog, just click on a post, go to the end, and click "Post Comment". You get a text editing box to write your comment, and a choice of how to identify yourself. Unless you have your own blog here at blogger.com, go ahead and click "Other". You have the option of entering your name and a personal Web page, but you can enter both, one or none. Click "Publish", and the page should then say, "Your comment is awaiting moderation." Eventually, I get around to approving the comments. This last step allows people to post without having to get their own blogs and keeps out comment spam.

Oh, and I have tried to be discreet in my use of names, so you should be, too. And if my discretion slips, if anyone asks, you never heard of this blog. ;-)

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

When you've finished your current books.... tyr this:

The Cleaving of Christendom

The fourth of a projected six volumes of Dr. Warren H. Carroll's fully documented history of Christendom is primarily concerned with the split in Christendom created by the Protestant revolt of Martin Luther and his followers, and consequently is entitled The Cleaving of Christendom. It covers in detail the years between the emergence of Luther as a major figure and the beginning of the personal reign of Louis XIV in France in 1661, with separate discussions of the missionary efforts and accomplishments of the Church in America and the Orient during these years. It explores in depth how the great division of Christendom came about.

Author: Warren Carroll

Anonymous said...

By the way. For a Fantastic good read try Patrick O'Brian
Book 1 of the Aubrey/Maturin Series,
Master and Commander. I read them all (20) and you will like them! Asumming you like the subject matter.

Awk

somercet said...

Sound interesting.

I can think of one meaning for the bloggish use of ETA: "Extra-Trite Addendum". Seriously, people use it to mean "Updated", but I don't know what the acronym is. ;-)

Anonymous said...

probably means "edited to add"

somercet said...

*blush* duh...

Anonymous said...

ETA ; is what you should have done at Hcnul.

Anonymous said...

Electronic Travel Authority (ETA )

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