EMBA 25 students just completed their International Field Seminar in Brazil. Students are sharing their thoughts on the trip in a series of blog posts.
Again and again in our meetings we heard about two big issues in Brazil, turnover of employees and low productivity.
Again and again in our meetings we heard about two big issues in Brazil, turnover of employees and low productivity.
Workers will switch jobs here for a $50 salary bump (I think they were referring to $50/mo). The entrance to the Bravante Sao Miguel shipyard had 3 workers waiting to be interviewed. The head naval architect overseeing the construction of Oil Spill Response Vessels for contract to Petrobras had come back from retirement and mentioned the difficulty keeping young welders on after training them. Merritor's axle plant had a brand new consultant to combat this at the engineer lever with training and other HR services.
Productivity is very low, infrastructure is partly to blame delaying inbound logistics. Lack of cranes was another notable gap; Bravante's Procurement Manager had been looking for 2 months for a suitable crane to lease or buy. This issue is also potentially due to culture. Several companies mentioned poor reliability in employees; delivery drivers not showing up for their shift because they had a late night before. A reduced work ethic was also mentioned and observed. Painters cover patches of steel painfully slow. Contractors build stadiums at a snails pace waiting for panic funding increases as deadlines approach. Even the bellmen at the Sheraton in Rio stand in front of the sliding door laughing about the escaping air conditioning with remarks such as "down with Sheraton!"
Productivity is very low, infrastructure is partly to blame delaying inbound logistics. Lack of cranes was another notable gap; Bravante's Procurement Manager had been looking for 2 months for a suitable crane to lease or buy. This issue is also potentially due to culture. Several companies mentioned poor reliability in employees; delivery drivers not showing up for their shift because they had a late night before. A reduced work ethic was also mentioned and observed. Painters cover patches of steel painfully slow. Contractors build stadiums at a snails pace waiting for panic funding increases as deadlines approach. Even the bellmen at the Sheraton in Rio stand in front of the sliding door laughing about the escaping air conditioning with remarks such as "down with Sheraton!"
What Brazil needs is performance management and human resources consultants to educate newly minted managers and entry level workers on the requirements of being internationally competitive in business and to align them with to goals of the organization through on boarding or properly aligned compensation.
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Justin McClellan
EMBA 25Justin McClellan is an accomplished aerospace engineer, analyst, and program manager with a diverse background in research and development. He holds a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from Boston University College of Engineering. Justin currently works for Aurora Flight Sciences.
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