My company had lots of school construction work to accomplish over this past summer-break.
We were literally taking in 50-60 applications a week. After initial screening, we would bring in 20-30; after drug testing we would have about 10 left for training and after a full week or work, usually only two or three had showed up on time, with their tools, ready to work all five days!
The work ethic in the latest generation is simply DISMAL! They only want a paycheck, they are not interested in anything that could advance their skills, careers or personal worth!
No surprise. I am enrolled in a continuing education class at the local community college. Classes are nightly at a local high school. Ours is in the 11th and 12th grade 'honors' English classroom.
The topics for papers are related to slavery, etc. The spelling and grammatical errors are beyond belief in the papers that are posted on the board as exemplary. I cringe to think of what passes for the best in classes below the 'honors' English.
“To be perfectly honest . . . we have a hard time finding people who can pass the drug test.”
About that zombie apocalypse coming.........
No doubt the progressives will argue drug and skills testing should be eliminated and it is the responsibility of the employer to motivate the employee through higher wages and benefits. Since the employers can’t find people to do the jobs, the progressive answer is to have the government bureaucrats at the unemployment office do the hiring. Let the government determine which of the registered unemployed are most suited for a position and sent that person to the company to be trained for the position. Give the employer tax credits for hiring. Problem solved.
We refer to this state as “going feral”. People have been on unemployment so long that they no longer understand the concept of going to work, staying at work and keeping clean. We require a 40 hour week. Anything less, they have to use leave. They quickly run out of leave and then want a solution. They simply can’t work a 40 hour week. They have too many other things to do.
People use up 10 days of sick leave in the first month. Then they discover we have something called “Leave Without Pay” which disturbs them greatly.
Often people live chaotic lives and keeping or getting a job is nearly impossible. They get drunk and get tossed in jail (not good for a job), they have to be in court for one reason or another (again not good), they can’t get along with fellow workers or just can’t discipline themselves (and never have) to get up on time on a regular basis. They won’t stay off drugs (no one is going tell them what to do!)
And then the low reading skills is a dead weight to getting and holding a job.
Why the hell doesn’t someone state the obvious? The OLDER generation (me, too!) went to things called SCHOOLS, where they were TAUGHT. Taught things like math, English (the language of the land), geography, spelling, grammar, manners,civics, economics, and the fact that homeWORK had darn well better be done.
In other words, they went to a school system that for almost 200 years EDUCATED students and prepared them for the task of building this nation.
Today, “students” are taught self-esteem, the joy of almost succeeding, the need for diversity, to feel good, and most important..sex education.
The fault lies not with the younger generation..they are the innocent products of a school system that will not, cannot, and is not interested in EDUCATION. These younger people have learned well the lessons they were taught, the problem is those lessons are their ruin.
Bump
I prided myself on being able to "work hard, play hard."
Today's young folks want to be able to play hard, but that's where it ends.
As I've estimated before, the US "unemployable rate" approaches 50%.
I wonder what effect all that texting has done to spelling skills. Too much “OMG R U Kid’g? I’ll b l8 LOL!!!” and the brain finds it can’t write business grammar anymore.
Great article.
If you look at the data behind the article, especially the Society of Human Resource Management survey, it is abundantly clear what Obama did. The Federal Government and Finance industries were least affected, while the construction, mining, oil and gas industries were hardest hit with having to lay off staff.
The entitlement mentality is responsible for the lack of skills, and that mentality is being nurtured by the Democrats. It is noticeable that top among the soft skills shortages in the USA are enthusiasm/motivation and professionalism, attributes not needed in an entitlement society.
The results of being coddled their whole lives. If they fail, whatever, mommy and government will take care of them. No self respect.
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Current drug tests detect any marijuana use within the past 30 days; how much does the joint you shared three weekends ago have to do with your ability to do a job today?
You could hire the older workers rather then deciding against us the moment you note the gray. Just a thought.
Employers want 25 year olds with Ph.Ds. No one says a word about age discrimination, and race discrimination against whites.
This is more whining and bitching from companies that don’t want to pay skilled people more than $8 an hour. I expect they are the same ones that complain about not enough illegal aliens or H1b’s for them to abuse.