A Degree for Meter Readers

Judy Anderson was assigned as a recruiter for South Illinois Electric Company
(SIE), a small supplier of natural gas and electricity for Cairo, Illinois, and the surrounding
area. The company had been expanded rapidly, and this growth was expected to
continue. In January 2014, SIE purchased the utilities system serving neighboring
Mitchell County. This expansion concerned Judy. The company workforce had increased
by 30 percent the previous year, and Judy had struggled to recruit enough qualified job
applicants. She knew that new expansion would intensify the problem.
Judy was particularly concerned about meter readers. The tasks required in meter
reading are relatively simple. A person drives to homes served by the company, finds
the gas or electric meter, and records its current reading. If the meter has been tampered
with, it is reported. Otherwise, no decision making of any consequence is associated
with the job. The reader performs no calculations. The pay was $10.00 per hour, high
for unskilled work in the area. Even so, Judy had been having considerable difficulty
keeping the 37 meter reader positions filled.
Judy was thinking about how to attract more job applicants when she received a
call from the human resource director, Sam McCord. “Judy,” Sam said, “I’m unhappy
with the job specification calling for only a high school education for meter readers. In
planning for the future, we need better-educated people in the company. I’ve decided to
change the education requirement for the meter reader job from a high school diploma
to a college degree.”
“But, Mr. McCord,” protested Judy, “the company is growing rapidly. If we are to
have enough people to fill those jobs we just can’t insist that college graduates get paid
to do such basic tasks. I don’t see how we can meet our future needs for this job with
such an unrealistic job qualification.”
Sam terminated the conversation abruptly by saying, “No, I don’t agree. We need
to upgrade all the people in our organization. This is just part of a general effort to do
that. Anyway, I cleared this with the president before I decided to do it.”

QUESTIONS:
1. Should there be a minimum education requirement for the meter reader job? Discuss.
2. What is your opinion of Sam’s effort to upgrade the people in the organization?