Has the work ethic changed?

[Crankyshank]

i don't mean to "insult" you but based on my experience you have a great work ethic. my issue is with the staff member that arrives at 8 on the dot and then takes 25 minutes to get coffee, chat with co-workers, finish putting on makeup (don't mean to be sexist-but i worked in a female dominated profession)...then ties up their bsns. phone lines with personal calls to mom, bank, travel agent (running real estate bsns on the side ), leaves for 20 minute break 10 minutes early because "it does'nt actualy start until i'm in the break room and i have to use the restroom, run to my car first", leaves for lunch 10 minutes early "cause i get x number of minutes to eat, so it does'nt start till i get my food" and then returns 15 minutes late to spend another 30 minutes eating the lunch/chatting at their desk with anyone who wanders by, and then stops answering client calls/doing productive work 25 minutes before 5 to gather their belongings, clean up their lunch clutter, run to the restroom for another make-up refresher, call a friend to confirm the evenings plans... these employees were the ones (in my experience) who responded to personnel reviews questioning their productivity with "well, it's unreasonable to expect someone to get that much done in an 8 hour day-i need overtime" (excuse me- but perhaps if you tried actualy working productivly for 8 hours you might be in a better position to guage what is reasonable and what is not).

ITA. Those are the kind of people that I am talking about when I refer to a lack of work ethic. Also people who show up 2 hrs late for work, drop everything in the middle of a crisis because it's lunchtime and then come back late from lunch.

About the sick thing - just because I'm coughing and blowing my nose doesn't mean I'm contagious so please don't assume I am. I have chronic sinusitis and it's not contagious. I have neither the sick time nor the staff to cover me so I can stay home every time I get a sniffle and I know I am not alone in this.

 

[cardaway]

I love these threads - lets complain about the younger generation. When in actuallity I think the problem is that the younger generations have figured out that when the CEO of a company doesn't know your name they probably won't care if you are fired.

I have to agree. While I understand how bad it has got, I say part (if not most) of the blame falls on the companies. From what I have seen they are all but encouraging the behavior. I would sum it up by saying the work ethic of those in charge of these people has went down the tubes as well.

I know when I got into the work force almost twenty years ago things were a lot different. Different because the people you went to work for didn't drop the ball in dealing with those that didn't hold their own.

 

[Mom2be]

I have to agree. While I understand how bad it has got, I say part (if not most) of the blame falls on the companies. From what I have seen they are all but encouraging the behavior. I would sum it up by saying the work ethic of those in charge of these people has went down the tubes as well.

I know when I got into the work force almost twenty years ago things were a lot different. Different because the people you went to work for didn't drop the ball in dealing with those that didn't hold their own.

To expand on this further I also think the new company phillosphy of talking to the group rather then the individual is part of the problem. It never fails that if "Bob" screws something up that we don't have a meeting about it where no one places blame but we are all told, "This has happened and if it continues to your pay will be docked." (I'm in sales). Why not just talk to freaking BOB? Of course Bob is to stupid to figure out that he is the problem.

~Amanda

 

[laura001]

I believe that the work ethic has changed in younger people (i am sure there are exceptions). Not sure what the reason is for this happening. Perhaps us as parents are to blame, ie...not expecting too much from our kids, responsibility etc. Also, I think we make excuses for our kids far too often. My DH is an executive general manager of a large convenience store company in our area, you would not believe the amount of phone calls etc that he receives on a daily basis from kids parents....it is a nightmare! They can make excuses for their children stealing, not showing up for work, caught on tape sleeping etc. It is amazing what some people can come up with, and what is also amazing is that these parents bypass the manager, supervisor's, other management and head straight to the top guy!

 

[jenm2878]

Wow is all I can say. My husband and I are both evil "20 somethings" and we have worked our @sses off our entire lives. Both of us worked full time while going to college, both of us obtained professional degrees, and I managed to pass the CPA exam while working 80 hours a week during tax season. He works so hard at his job that I literally have to call him most nights and remind him to come home. (after he's put in 11-12 hours) We are anything but lazy, and have work ethic coming out of our ears. Don't stereotype all young people - we are not all alike.

 

[Maleficent13]

To expand on this further I also think the new company phillosphy of talking to the group rather then the individual is part of the problem. It never fails that if "Bob" screws something up that we don't have a meeting about it where no one places blame but we are all told, "This has happened and if it continues to your pay will be docked." (I'm in sales). Why not just talk to freaking BOB? Of course Bob is to stupid to figure out that he is the problem.

~Amanda

I had to because this is EXACTLY what happens around here.

I had a whole response typed out to address the OP, but deleted it on the slim chance someone from my work would see it. Suffice to say, I am with the people who think a lot of the work ethic problem is in the "us against them" mentality on both sides.

 

[Pooh_Friend#1]

I am 25 and I work harder than most of the other people in my position (HR Specialist) in my office. Most of them are getting ready to retire in a few years, I am the yougest specialist by decades and many people dislike me because I am so much younger and working in a higher level position than most of them. I work harder than our assistant that are in their 40's waiting to be promoted to a specialist position, and that is the reason why I am a specialist and they are not...because I work hard, I make an effort to take on the extra work and extra projects, I try to stand out and do a great job.

When I graduated from college, I heard about the horror stories of HR in the private sector but yet they make a lot of money. I decided to go with job security and lower pay to work for a government agency so it isn't money that motivates me. What motivates me is knowing that I am doing the best and most that I can and to my potential.

 

[barkley]

I am 25 and I work harder than most of the other people in my position (HR Specialist) in my office. Most of them are getting ready to retire in a few years, I am the yougest specialist by decades and many people dislike me because I am so much younger and working in a higher level position than most of them. I work harder than our assistant that are in their 40's waiting to be promoted to a specialist position, and that is the reason why I am a specialist and they are not...because I work hard, I make an effort to take on the extra work and extra projects, I try to stand out and do a great job.

When I graduated from college, I heard about the horror stories of HR in the private sector but yet they make a lot of money. I decided to go with job security and lower pay to work for a government agency so it isn't money that motivates me. What motivates me is knowing that I am doing the best and most that I can and to my potential.

you are a brave sole-hr in government agencies can be a nightmare that never ends! beyond the maze of obscure (and maddening) civil service laws i'm sure you also encounter those in managment whose work ethic is no better in that they prefer to ignore an employee issue rather than take the necessary and appropriate steps to address it (just waiting for the person to transfer and become someone elses problem ). by far the greatest staff problems i encountered in goverment were those whose previous supervisors never addressed issues so that when i addressed it, it became a "this is personal-she does'nt like me, my previous supervisor never had a problem with it" issue.

 

[azgal81]

I am 24 years old but almost 25 I work for a university and yes I did graduate from college. I was promoted past 3 other positions within a year of my hire date. I work hard and am currently also filling in for a lady on maternity leave. I think some people in general just have poor work ethic young or old. There is a lady in my department who is in her 60s.

She comes into work at 8 normally she's not here on time. She then goes to the kitchen to heat up her breakfast eats that well reading our daily bread on the internet for 30 minutes, flosses her teeth for 10 minutes, she makes some personal calls, goes to the bathroom for twenty minutes, comes back goes on break for 15 minutes, sends out some emails, goes to make her lunch for 15 minutes, leaves for lunch for an hour and 15 minutes (yes she doesn't think an hour for lunch includes travel time so she takes 15 extra minutes then complains about how her watch stopped or something that's why she's late), then goes to the bathroom again for 20 minutes, flosses her teeth again for 15 minutes, does maybe an hour of work, goes on break for 15 minutes, comes back and goes to the bathroom for 20 more minutes again, does maybe 30 minutes of work/web surfing, then starts to pack her things up to go home for 20 minutes.

Yep that happens everyday! I used to sit by her but I no longer do since I have my own office now. I guess working at a university gives you job security I wish others realized how bad she was though.

The majority of my department is more young people then old!

 

[Pooh_Friend#1]

you are a brave sole-hr in government agencies can be a nightmare that never ends! beyond the maze of obscure (and maddening) civil service laws i'm sure you also encounter those in managment whose work ethic is no better in that they prefer to ignore an employee issue rather than take the necessary and appropriate steps to address it (just waiting for the person to transfer and become someone elses problem ). by far the greatest staff problems i encountered in goverment were those whose previous supervisors never addressed issues so that when i addressed it, it became a "this is personal-she does'nt like me, my previous supervisor never had a problem with it" issue.

Wow, that is exactly what a deal with daily!!!!! Did you work in HR??? But really I don't mind it. I get to meet a lot of new people daily and it is a challenging job that keeps my interest!!!

 

[delilah]

Definitely. The people in their twenties do not want t. o work their way to the top. They want to start in management positions without knowledge or skills required to be in these positions. They take time off whenever they want and come and go as they please.

I couldn't agree with you more, except the particular individuals in my profession are probably in their early to mid 30's. These people are DOCTORS who refuse to see PATIENTS because the reimbursement on a particular insurance program is too low to suit them. They want to be out of the call rotation, failing to see that the more senior doctors have been taking call, usually every third to fourth night, and every third to fourth weekend, on average, for 9-20 years. They want to dictate to other, more experience doctors, when and if they can take vacation, and which days the other doctors work where and when. Sorry, it doesn't work that way. I didn't work for 10 years before you got here so I could kow-tow to your whims and desires.

 

[barkley]

Wow, that is exactly what a deal with daily!!!!! Did you work in HR??? But really I don't mind it. I get to meet a lot of new people daily and it is a challenging job that keeps my interest!!!

no-i was one of the "she does'nt like me" supervisors who got "stuck" with the realy bad employees whose sup's. had'nt written them up (and in one case it had been going on for about 10 years). when i started addressing it (and had to document the dollar errors in incorrect issuance of public funds) hr began to focus on the previous supervisors who had never addressed the issues before/and question those that "never had a problem employee"-it resulted in supervisors FINALY being held accountable for their contributing to poor work ethics (and why THEIR bosses had never addressed their failure to do their jobs-i mean you work in government h.r.-it may not be documented but "everyone" knows who is the "look the other way" supervisor).

can you tell i did'nt become very popular among my peers ?

 

[Pooh_Friend#1]

(and why THEIR bosses had never addressed their failure to do their jobs-i mean you work in government h.r.-it may not be documented but "everyone" knows who is the "look the other way" supervisor).

OH yeah, no all about those types. I also love the supervisors that aren't doing their jobs and come to us at a later date saying the employee is lazy, blah blah blah, but when you ask them for documentation they have a blank stare on their face OR when you look at the previous performance evaluations of the bad employee they were all marked satisfactory!!!!! If they were so bad, why would you not note it in the performance evaluations and still let them pass!!!!! Thank god we finally moved to a 5-tier system instead of the stupid pass/fail.