The trend of American firms sending jobs abroad while cutting them at home is nothing new. President Barack Obama mentioned the issue in his State of the Union address when he urged American companies to bring their overseas jobs back home. It's a problem that United Technologies Corp. has been trying to address since 1995 when then-Chief Executive George David said that while he did not owe employees a job, he felt an obligation to prepare workers for life after a layoff. In the years previous to that statement, Bits reports, United Technologies had eliminated 33,000 U.S. jobs while adding 15,000 jobs overseas.
That's why United, the high-tech manufacturer of plane engines and helicopters, created a program that year to fund the college education of any employee who wanted to pursue a degree. Since 1995, United has spent $1 billion financing the associate, bachelor's and graduate degrees of thousands of employees, including 10,000 who are currently enrolled. Some workers, like engineer Nathan Boelkins, even go back for second helpings. Boelkins earned two master's degrees, one in management and the other aeronautical science.
Many companies selectively offer scholarship money for current employees, though few are as generous as United's. Ask your human resources department whether there's money to send you back to school. Earning a degree while working a full-time job isn't easy, but think of it as an insurance policy against being laid off or a secret weapon in getting a promotion. You never know when an extra master's degree might come in handy. (Bits)
Dev Jobs (FINS)
San Francisco's Framehawk, Inc. will hire up to 25 new employees after raising $11 million in December. The company makes a mobile application development platform that it says allows companies to have apps with slick and sexy exteriors while retaining old and secure interiors.
Dell Jobs, Dude (MarketWatch)
As it expands beyond the PC, Dell Inc. is hiring hundreds of IT pros with expertise in software, storage and cloud computing at its Santa Clara, Calif., office. Within the next several years, the company says it will employ 1,500 in the area, up from 700 today.
Lawsuit for That (Reuters)
An Eastman Kodak employee is suing the troubled film maker for shelling out stock equity to employees that is likely to be worthless in bankruptcy proceedings. The company should have known its future was threatened by its dying technologies, the suit says.
Reflecting (WSJ)
Groupon Chief Executive Andrew Mason talks about life after the IPO and how 23-year-olds with nervous parents made him write the now-infamous leaked memo.
Bye-Bye (WSJ)
From the schmaltzy to the triumphant, farewell emails are a workplace institution these days, but it takes a special skill to write one that doesn't leave your former colleagues cringing under their desks.
Letting Go (BetaBeat)
A former Yahoo engineer says the company has laid off at least five customer support employees of the photo sharing service Flickr, which Yahoo owns. These employees understood the ins and outs of the product and advocated for users in product meetings, the engineer says.
Hiring Spree (WSJ)
Amazon's total headcount is now 56,200, up 67% from a year ago. The majority of the company's new hires were in operations and customer service, but additions were made across the board, Amazon said.
New Channels (Bloomberg)
IBM has made yet another start-up acquisition, this time for mobile app developer WorkLight. The rumored $70 million deal will give IBM capabilities to help companies build secure apps for employees across different devices.
Let Go (Forbes)
Google has reportedly fired its country manager in Kenya in response to a data stealing scandal earlier this month where a Kenyan company had its databases scraped.
Buzz Around the Office
A 5-year-old describes an array of brandmarks, from the Apple logo to the Starbucks logo to Bank of America logo.
List of the Day: Increasing Your Visibility
Keep these in mind when doing your networking.
1. Join professional association committees and attend industry conferences.
2. Don't arrange informational interviews using your work email.
3. Create a research project and use it as an excuse to call up the leaders in your industry.
(Source: Glassdoor.com)
