If you were to attend a meeting at Southern Company, it would not be surprising to find that many of your colleagues around the table have 20, 25, 30, or more years of experience with the company.

Low Turnover

Southern Company subsidiaries have one of the lowest turnover rates (5.1 percent annually) in an industry that itself ranks low in employee turnover. (For work force figures, see performance.)

Long Tenure

Our high percentage of long-tenured employees testifies to our success in providing a desirable workplace with good pay and benefits and ongoing development opportunities. An experienced work force also portends major challenges for our future.

Near-Term Retirements

Our nation's electric and natural gas utilities employ more than 500,000 people, half of whom are skilled-craft laborers. Because of the ages of these employees, projections show that 40 percent or more could retire over the next five years. We've seen this coming in our company, and we've been preparing.

Recruitment Partnerships

We've joined forces with colleges to recruit and train new employees, and we've developed knowledge-sharing programs between experienced and new workers. Each year, Southern Company employs several hundred cooperative-education students whose studies are in fields that are essential to our operations. Many of these students work for the company permanently after they complete their degrees. To increase awareness of the potential future shortfall of skilled-craft labor, we offer education and leadership forums for students and educators in our region. We also join forces with high schools and technical schools to attract and prepare students to pass industry pre-employment tests for power generation and power delivery careers.

In addition to hiring talent to meet the requirements of our business, our goal is to hire people representative of communities we serve and demographics of the marketplace. Our new-hire statistics show progress toward this goal.