How many of you know what a work ethic is? How many of you have a good work ethic? I ask you these questions because my wife and I have observed over the years that peoples work ethic have declined.
I define a work ethic as this " Doing what is needed and going beyond that to ensure a particular task or whole job is completed on time or sooner". This takes dedication and my wife and I have observed a lack of this dedication from people just starting a job or who have had a job for a while.
My wife works in the food-service industry and she has observed over the years that a lot of people (especially the younger generation) do not want to do manual labor. They just want to stand or sit their texting on their phones.
I work in the construction industry and have observed this myself. I may not be the best worker and my boss may think I don't have a good work ethic and that is fine. I however don't sit on the phone when something needs to be done.
If TSHTF the people who have a poor work ethic will cause all of us to
suffer, at least until the school of hard knocks teaches them. As we all
know after TSHTF we will probably have to do a lot more physical labor
of which they will not be used to until taught the hard way.
I just thought I'd let you the reader know this and ask if you or someone you know has observed this work ethic trend. I know there are still a lot of dedicated workers out there and this post is not directed at them or any one person. All this post is about is my wife and I observing a trend that seems to be going on.
I have also noticed this trend. I have also noticed that as there are more and more national sized stores more and more employees are treated poorly with an attitude of your replaceable. I think both problems are connected.
ReplyDeleteWhat say you?
This is true. If an employer doesn't care about or respect the employees the employees will do very little if anything to help the employer. If an employee goes in with the attitude that they are just there for a paycheck an employer will not care about that employee. It's a double-edged sword and unfortunately everyone suffers because of it.
ReplyDeleteSo how does one change this trend. Its all well and great to point it out, but I am at a loss as to what to do about it
ReplyDelete@ PalmCityGirl
ReplyDeleteYou would need to find out exactly why they took that particular job in the first place. There is no real way around this but to ask them directly. Then you would have to find a way to motivate one or more employees to do what you would expect them to do. This is the hard part and may cause some unmotivated employees to quit.
Try to make the task or complete job interesting to them. If they are just not interested in the job ask them exactly what would interest them.
If you can, even though you really don't have to, you may want to help them find a job that does interest them, if you have business connections.
I believe most people now show no interest in work because they are uncertain about the economy. If we can show them that someone does care about them and whether or not they succeed in life maybe they will be more motivated to do just about any job asked of them, within reason.
I am OLD! LOL, at 50, I also have seen the lack of work ethic in the bulk of youngers, but SOME still have it. They are few and far between...priorities have changed greatly over the years, and I have NO idea how to fix it...I tried to instill it in my kids, but they still have that gimmee mentality...but they DO work hard...what a contradiction, huh? they don't see the results our parents and ourselves did from hard work...heck, I don't see it in my current job....
ReplyDeleteWe've tried for MONTHS to get someone to clean up an old house & homestead. Nothing rocket science at all, just some manual labor, nothing that would require more strength than lifting a cinder block. We offered $10 cash an hour with a minimum guaranteed workload. We could NOT get anyone to work for us. At least around here, it's just too easy to sit back and collect that WIC, SNAP, HUD money and go fishing. We eventually ended up having the renters themselves (who were in their 50's) do the work & we're taking the $$ off their rent.
ReplyDeleteMy 13 y.o. son's friends spend their time inside their parents houses, sitting on their backsides playing games. He's rarely allowed to go "visit" and when he does, he rides his bike the 2 miles. His friend's parents are appalled that I let him do such a dangerous thing as ride a bike on a country road "that far". Little do they know, he also builds the fire in the woodstove every day after he brings in the wood, which he split with a maul. His friends sit there while their parents do everything. I can't stand to visit any more because I get so angry. Work ethic and responsibility start when they are very, very small, as in picking up their toys and such.
ReplyDeleteIf a kid doesn't help at home and hasn't learned basic work skills and completion, they are going to be poor employees.
Just my opinion.
I am OLD! LOL, at 69. I have seen the lack of work ethic in the bulk of young people, however, my own children are not lazy and work hard (40-50) as well as the grandchildren (17-28). I guess it is how you are raised. I do see a lot of texting going on when the younger ones are not working. I am concerned about this as well as a lack of spelling grammer, i.e., your for you're (you are); your is possessive. Isn't this taught anymore?? you're is a contraction of 'you are'. It drives me nutzo!! Too many lazies out there...hope they don't think I am going to feed them!!!
ReplyDeleteThe work ethic in the US is in long-term decline for a variety of reasons including excessive entitlements. However, there is a parallel trend of employers exploiting workers, cutting their hours to skimp on benefits (thanks Obama), replacing older and higher paid workers, and under compensating workers. My sense like that of others is that these two trends are two sides of the same coin and are related.
ReplyDelete