Jobs, Plastics, UAE.XOBIN

I wonder at the recent Number of jobs that are being moved out of USA/ Europe. While this was thought as a IT Phenomenon, it is fast catching up in the Manufacturing/ supply chain. This is evident from calls I receive from Overseas placement companies requesting for help in locating candidates through my network in India. While the staff costs may be low on comparable terms (Of course less liability issues in this part of the world !!) I wonder the other costs like travel for business requirements, competency aspects would be an issue. More so the Operating budgets do not take in to considerations these aspects when these positions are created and causes lot of heartburn in job content and job satisfaction or value add from incumbents perspective. This also creates an uneasy time for the person who fits in the job. I guess it all evens out for people at every part of the world. Looks like a ZERO SUM GAME.

I am amazed at the resistance to the use of plastic bags etc by school children these days as well as their commitment to protect general environment. My Kids have made sure that the Sunday market we go to, we return with no plastic bags with fruits and vegetables. We now make sure that we carry enough cloth bags to fill in all the vegetables that we purchase at the market. The kids constantly monitor the house for leaky taps and promptly orders maintenance if required without even telling us(It costs a bit its OK). They also decided to look for eco friendly features in whatever they purchase.They have also made sure that 80% of the lighting in the house is the CFL

I listen to Wayne Turmel's Cranky middle manager show for the past 12 months. He brings in to conversations with a lot of diverse issues. Please listen to this episode in which he gets the middle east perspective with Ms. Sarah Shaw. It is very informative and gives a flavor of different perspective. I request all of you reading this blog to give a try at Wayne's podcasts as well as to sign for his free news letter.

Yesterday I downloaded the Tool XOBIN (Inbox spelled reverse), it is a great tool for indexing and statistics of outlook inbox. This also separates out attachments, time at which the mails were received as well as many other features.


Finally I want to bring in J Murali who contributes to the Weekly tech column Netspeak in Hindu( Every Monday). In my early days I used to try the softwares he mentions in the article and it was of great help. I only wish there are RSS feeds to such useful column to directly tap in to the browser.

Ok, till next week, take it easy and Take care; Live consciously.

Regards
Karthik
Karaikudy@gmail.com