Given the job market, there's a better pool of employees out there".
Even though the pool of employees is sufficient, companies still have to compete, Mr. McCabe said.
Local public services will also, the thinking goes, improve though having access to a better qualified pool of employees.
Many councils, including my own, outsource care responsibilities to private companies who draw from a limited pool of employees with no standardised training.
But it houses an experiment started in 2007 by the health-benefit programs of the casino workers' union and of a hospital, AtlantiCare Medical Center, the city's two largest pools of employees.
They share, according to court papers filed in that case, common management, equipment and facilities, along with the same supervisors and pool of employees, as well as customers and suppliers.
As employers add more telecommuting possibiilties, their pool of employees may grow to include rural workers previously hampered by geography or retirees lacking the stamina for the traditional commute.
The ability to recruit a pool of employees, Ms. Spaulding said, "who love to serve customers in a way they'd like to be served" has been crucial to maintaining good customer service.
Under what is known as the company's "retiree casual" program, retired workers -- from rocket scientists to secretaries -- can join a pool of employees who are hired back from time to time to solve problems, work on special projects and keep their valuable institutional knowledge on tap.
One year on the hot new project can be more valuable than five years in the general pool of employees.
