Shortage of workers .

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by rcooled

I think this is an important factor in this conversation. When I'm out & about during the week, I see lots of scruffy-looking people who seem to be just hanging out in the middle of the day and killing time. And they really don't look like the type of folks you might see working evenings/nights in retail or in restaurants either. If you're willing to just scrape by day-to-day, it's very easy to avoid working any sort of traditional job in this country.

I see people doing this all the time. I don't think it's easy, but it's the way they want to live. As long as they pay their way, I don't care.

Originally Posted by rcooled

A friend's daughter is one of these types. In her early 20s, she decided that the working world wasn't for her, so she found some dumbass loser to get her pregnant. Once the baby came along, she ditched the boyfriend, went on welfare, then signed up for every gov't giveaway program available. She's content to live in some schithole section 8 apt. and if she needs a little extra spending money, she'll do odd jobs for friends like house cleaning or washing cars...cash only. She has no ambition, no motivation, no plan for her or her child's future...it's only about whatever she needs to make it 'till tomorrow. Very sad indeed.

Sad, and frankly, reprehensible. That lifestyle is OK for her, but she has a responsibility to her child. She needs to teach it a better way of life.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by Mad Max

Yes, deserves based on the example given, that being they produced a million dollars of gross business. I believe that individual is worth more than the 32k in wages before taxes.

There is really no correlation between gross retail receipts, profit, and compensation. Retail often works on extremely thin margins, sometimes 1 or 2%. What's 2% of a million dollars?

[Crowbob]

There should be made the distinction between the millennials' entitlement mentality and the futility they see in hard work.

Images of enormous wealth and success are everywhere these days, probably owing to social media but that is another issue. Millennials see what they have come to believe is impossible for them. And they are correct. So they reject the cliche that says working hard will set you free. There seems to be a growing number of people being completely satisfied with driving a crappy car, living in a so-so home and no fancy clothes or restaurants.

So long as they have their phones, their movies and wi-if they're satisfied. Telling the man to take his low-pay job and shove it may not be entitlement, it may be defeat-which they're fine with.

I've heard more than once (and several times here) that the more competent and hard-working you are, the more likely you will get dumped on by the boss. It's true.

[pavulon]

Listened to some of this tonite and thought of this thread.

https://www.marketplace.org/2018/07/17/wealth-poverty/generation-wealth-more-than-money

Lauren Greenfield: I really started thinking about it during the financial crisis, and I started to think that the stories that I had done about all of these different topics maybe told a larger story about the way we had changed and how we had gone from a culture — how the American dream had changed and how we've gone from a dream characterized by hard work and frugality and discipline and discretion to a kind of balloon dream more about celebrity and bling and narcissism. And so I went back to kind of figure out what had happened and in the process, realized that my story wasn't just about wealth or about money, but also about the other things that give us value — the currency of beauty, of sexuality, of fame, of branding.

[Crowbob]

There is, I believe, more to this 'lazy' millennial phenomenon that goes beyond simple personality traits.

It seems to me like this is a social movement (as opposed to the bowel kind). I think we're seeing an entire generation, roughly speaking, that is in rejection. It is a form of protest. It is a mass acceptance of virtual reality over reality. Allot of these people see how they've been lied to, how they've been hoodwinked.

They've grown up being bombarded by information and have no desire to wade into the mess and find the truth.

It doesn't seem like a good thing.

[gduke2010]

I think it's only a matter of time before we see wages increase. I work with some highly skilled workers, who like myself are looking for better pay. But, higher paying jobs aren't out there. Also, seems as if my friends working for other companies are looking to jump ship, too. It's always been 10% of the workers doing 50% of the work, and the more complicated projects that need to be done know. I can see the others standing around waiting for beer thirty while a few of us are hurrying, trying to get our projects done by the end of the day, What is sad is we don't make much more than the slackers. So, there really, isn't much benefit giving a little extra for the company.

What is sad is, we make just enough money, that it wouldn't be very beneficial. to leave. There are other jobs out there, but they don't pay enough to quit the current job.

If only, employers would focus more on key employees and reward the most productive.

I'm waiting for employees to jump ship, and employers to compete.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by gduke2010

I can see the others standing around waiting for beer thirty while a few of us are hurrying, trying to get our projects done by the end of the day, What is sad is we don't make much more than the slackers. So, there really, isn't much benefit giving a little extra for the company.

A habit of giving a little extra is where a tight labor market can help you. Your employer (unless it is some big corp that doesn't pay attention) knows your work ethic. If you seek a higher offer elsewhere and if your current employer has the means and values your work, he is going to match it.

[RKDinOKC]

Younger people today consider themselves are still working when they are texting or talking on their phone

[Crowbob]

Originally Posted by RKDinOKC

Younger people today consider themselves are still working when they are texting or talking on their phone

Well they do have a point. Who decided the rules of the digital age should be made by the employers?

An office worker standing there waiting for the printer to spit something out is not abusing the employer when he looks at his phone and texts somebody.

Some employers require their employees to engage in business emails after hours on their own time. Or used to.

The workplace is no different than the rest of society in the sense that the digital age is putting everyone and everything in transition.

[JackDidley]

Seems a lot of people have low expectations. They think its normal to live in moms basement and have no possessions at the age of 30. Welfare and disability money is too easy to get. I do not understand.

[RKDinOKC]

The rules of the "digital age" SHOULD be made by EMPLOYERS because they are the ones paying for that employees time. You can't tell me it would be okay for bus drivers to text while driving because well...it's the digital age. It's the same for any job where an employer is paying for the employee's time.

[widgeon13]

Why work??

https://www.lifezette.com/2018/07/1000-families-in-chicago-could-get-500-a-month-no-questions-asked/

[Tervuren]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

A habit of giving a little extra is where a tight labor market can help you. Your employer (unless it is some big corp that doesn't pay attention) knows your work ethic. If you seek a higher offer elsewhere and if your current employer has the means and values your work, he is going to match it.

I also find that the ones that are truly worth keeping aren't looking to compare themselves to how much better they are than someone else that works there; instead their focus is on being the best they can be.

I prefer not to look at the negative of others unless I am in a position of influence to change it. There is an endless amount of things in the world I could choose to complain about, and doing so is taking away from something productive.

[red-beard]

Wages for workers is about added value. If the cost of a worker is higher than the value they add, the price of the product must go up. If it cannot, then the company will go out of business, or figure out a way to eliminate the low productive worker.

If McDonalds is FORCED to pay $15/hr, it will eliminate all positions that do not add $15 in value. I did not work at McDonalds, but I read about them in "The Electronic Sweatshop". McDonalds has always been at the forefront of Industrial Engineering. Time motion studies, general efficiency, waste elimination. Everything to eek out a little more profit. The whole "super size" model is all about up sizing profit per transaction, not profit per material sold.

In the end, robots WILL be trained to do the work of men. The only ones who will make money will be those who generate intellectual property. And those that fix the robots.

[legion]

Originally Posted by red-beard

In the end, robots WILL be trained to do the work of men. The only ones who will make money will be those who generate intellectual property. And those that fix the robots.

[red-beard]

I saw the writing on the wall in the 1990s. ex-Mrs. Beard was a Medical Technologist, 4 yr degree person who worked in/ran a Medical Lab running the tests. Near the end of our time together, I bought a cheap USB microscope. Instead of looking into a glass scope, you could put the image on a computer. With a computer image, you could do the things that the technicians were doing, except by computer.

I told ex-Mrs beard, she needed to go back to school and get an MBA and become full management track or to do what it took to become a PA. The lab equipment was going to eliminate most of the jobs. The MLT positions (Medical Lab Technicians, 2 yr degree) were going away and being replaced by non-degreed "monkeys". The specimens just needed to be loaded into racks and the machine would take care of the rest. This was 20 years ago. I expect the automation is more severe now.

The only good news, most "robots" are specialized. You cannot take a robot designed to paint a car and directly use it for assembly. You CAN do this with people. People are far more adaptable. But they have to add more value than they are paid, or the job will eventually be eliminated, one way or another.

[masraum]

They (young people) aren't all bad. This is amazing.

Alabama employee gets new car from boss after 20-mile walk

[Por_sha911]

Originally Posted by VincentVega

I've talked to some folks looking for a home run and not interested in a 'boring, low paying job'. Considering they were low to mid skilled its not hard to see where they are coming from to a point. Work outside or behind a counter for ~$9/hr isnt that interesting. These folks thought they were worth more than that but didn't seem to understand how to prove that and earn more.

I asked what # was right and they said $20-25/hr. Sure, reality check is in order. But, I wonder what the right # is. Starting at $12, $15 or $20 is great but where do you go from there? How is that extra expense accounted for by the employer?

+1

I read about folks who have the "whatever it takes" mindset. Work full time while go to school, walk to work, work two jobs, start at the bottom. I once heard it said this way: "don't ask for more money, become more valuable".

Originally Posted by 1990C4S

Supply and demand would say otherwise. Higher pay brings more people into the workforce.
And for 'individuals' or 'businesses' it's simply a money issue. You want cashiers? Pay $16 per hour, not $11.

Supply and demand does NOT say otherwise. Paying more money for slackers or unskilled only raises the cost of living for everyone since the skilled will demand more.

My company has no experience, entry level positions that pay 40-50% more than the going entry level job. We have an attendance points system that is really liberal and easy to keep. On a regular basis we have people who quit or get let go because they won't arrive on time and work their scheduled shift every week. Really?

I read where a fellow who was middle age and middle class couldn't find work in his field so he went to work part-time at Mickey D's. The manager noticed his work ethic and he became a shift manager. The owner saw his ethic and made him a manager of a store. Later, the owner offered to partner with him to finance him getting a store of his own. He now owns 30-40 (IIRC) stores outright.

My company hired a guy who served one of our supervisors at the drive thru window each morning because of his upbeat attitude. He started at the bottom and is rising up the ranks because of his work ethic and attitude.

Also (and this is big), paying bad employees is flushing money down the drain because they won't be profitable to the company. They can't show up 5 days a week (and always have an excuse), they have no pride in their workmanship, they have no work ethic. There is no dedication to being worth what you want to make. Also, those who have this kind of attitude will work until they get upset about some minor issue and quit (one person quit because the person she sat next to in the office wouldn't be her bff). They have a dry erase board work resume.

We have 1 or 2 generations of people raised on everyone gets an award mentality. They come out of universities with degrees because they showed up and did minimal participation. They don't want to wait for anything. Why save money to buy new furniture debt free? Just put yourself in massive debt and get it now. Why defer going on vacation to have savings? Spend every last penny and we'll hope nothing bad happens...

I would hire this guy in a New York second:
Student takes long walk to work -- ends up owning boss' car | Fox News

According to media reports, Walter Carr’s 2003 Nissan Altima conked out just before his first day at the Bellhops moving company.

So, not wanting to show up late on his first day, 20-year-old Carr left his home in Homewood, Ala., around midnight and started walking, alone in the dark, so he could get to the job on time...

Carr’s first-day client, Jenny Lamey, offered to let him rest a bit, but Carr got straight to work instead....

When Bellhops CEO Luke Marklin learned about his new employee, he drove his own 2014 Ford Escape from Tennessee on Monday, so he could let Carr have it. “I am honestly blown away by him,” Marklin told AL.com. “Everything he did that day is exactly who we are - heart and grit. So far, he's batting 1.000.”

He will go far in this world.

[Don Ro]

" I once heard it said this way: "don't ask for more money, become more valuable"."
~~~~~~~~~~
You probably heard me all the way from CA.
.
After 34 yrs. of being a business owner, I would be the best employee anyone could possibly want.
I used to tell my guys, "I don't determine how much money you make. Make it so that I can't get along well without you. That'll do it."

[Por_sha911]

Maybe I read it in:
My Ass From a Hole in the Ground - A Comparative View