THE CONTINUING SAGA OF THE RESIDENT EMPLOYEE.Post # 715 was only a copied news story but is the source or basis for this follow up. I didn't make up the story and there are others like it, some slightly different, some maybe quite different but nevertheless all narrow down into the problem faced in this one example case.
I received the following comment to the previous story , it is here in part...
In my extensive experience with resident workers.. if they are getting a decent wage for the work they're asked to do, and they're either qualified for the job or are properly trained, they have in every instance proved excellent employees.
The reply: A lot of employers have not had the same extensive experience with resident workers as you have, in fact most have had a far less satisfactory experience then you. Hence the results are many accounts the same as related in the previous post. This is not a one sided problem to be all put on the employers. There must be a realization of the truths and these truths must be faced, borough out into the light and addressed. There can no longer be a certain ignoring of and pussy footing around the issues. Times are at push and shove at this point and things are getting tough. The reason I posted this story was to get to some of these unspoken and unaddressed problems. These problems being the very ones mentioned by the news story. I did not make this up, I only put it in your face, the problem isn't in who's story it is or who's telling it, but the facts in the story content. To try to narrow down what the content of the story is I'll put it this way.
Summary: Employers are willing to hire resident workers... Resident workers when hired do not pull their weight and are undependable. That is it put in a nutshell.
Now I am certain there are good and reliable resident workers. I've personally seen, worked with, and even employed some very good people but overall this problem keeps surfacing over and over. We can argue training, wage levels, rights and wrongs and most everything you want but in the end most will fall under the above mentioned summery. If this were not the case we wouldn't have stories appearing like the one posted in the newspapers. Remember I'm only telling the story, making you talk and think about it, not the cause of, or the reason its here, only putting it into light.
So what does a employer do?
The legislature?
The wannabe employees?
Well I don't have the answers, I'm, as I've stated, only the story teller, these are your problems, not mine, you need to answer these questions yourselves. Until this is faced truthfully and openly it will keep festering under the surface, until that surface is broken and the problem is addressed and removed, this will not go away...
I received the following comment to the previous story , it is here in part...
In my extensive experience with resident workers.. if they are getting a decent wage for the work they're asked to do, and they're either qualified for the job or are properly trained, they have in every instance proved excellent employees.
The reply: A lot of employers have not had the same extensive experience with resident workers as you have, in fact most have had a far less satisfactory experience then you. Hence the results are many accounts the same as related in the previous post. This is not a one sided problem to be all put on the employers. There must be a realization of the truths and these truths must be faced, borough out into the light and addressed. There can no longer be a certain ignoring of and pussy footing around the issues. Times are at push and shove at this point and things are getting tough. The reason I posted this story was to get to some of these unspoken and unaddressed problems. These problems being the very ones mentioned by the news story. I did not make this up, I only put it in your face, the problem isn't in who's story it is or who's telling it, but the facts in the story content. To try to narrow down what the content of the story is I'll put it this way.
Summary: Employers are willing to hire resident workers... Resident workers when hired do not pull their weight and are undependable. That is it put in a nutshell.
Now I am certain there are good and reliable resident workers. I've personally seen, worked with, and even employed some very good people but overall this problem keeps surfacing over and over. We can argue training, wage levels, rights and wrongs and most everything you want but in the end most will fall under the above mentioned summery. If this were not the case we wouldn't have stories appearing like the one posted in the newspapers. Remember I'm only telling the story, making you talk and think about it, not the cause of, or the reason its here, only putting it into light.
So what does a employer do?
The legislature?
The wannabe employees?
Well I don't have the answers, I'm, as I've stated, only the story teller, these are your problems, not mine, you need to answer these questions yourselves. Until this is faced truthfully and openly it will keep festering under the surface, until that surface is broken and the problem is addressed and removed, this will not go away...
.....GED.....
15 comments:
* What does an employer do?
Pay a decent wage respective to the work being done. In Atalig's case, pay Certified Mechanical Engineers, what certified mechanical engineers should be making, which is not $6.50 an hour. Pay trainees in this field what they should be making and they'll likely stay.
If they cause difficulties, fire them. If you are paying a decent wage, you're bound to get someone soon who'll stay on.
*What should the legislature do?
They should enforce labor laws. Support NMC and training programs. Pass a living wage bill.
Accountants shouldn't be getting three bucks an hour, neither should engineers, mechanics, and a number of other professional and technical people. Leave the $3.55 an hour to people who collect tips on top of their regular work.. waitstaff.
*What should wannabe employees do? Get training, go to school. Ensure that when you are seeking out a job it is one that pays you a fair starting salary and one that will allow you to develop your skills and potentially offer promotions over time. Don't get stuck in the rut of a job that doesn't pay fairly or treat you fairly, seek another job. At the same time, remember that you are on the clock. Your time is being paid for and you should work diligently. It will also more often than not prove mutually beneficial for you and your employer if you go beyond the call when you can. Make yourself indispensible. Be a good follower when required and a good leader when required.
There's my advice. :)
I've got you busy as a hen pecking corn this morning haven't I? You must be on your 3rd or 4th cup of coffee. It's fun to exercise the mind in the morning isn't it...
All your answere are right on..Now how to accomplish that? That is now the question.
Boycott Porky's!
http://pragmaticplato.blogspot.com/
PP
I'll sure be glad when you're done with this worn out message PP...
How to accomplish that..
1. Federal minimum wage will help, but the legislature needs to address specific professional and technical positions. They need to set a salary baseline for a number of specific positions.
2. Anyone receiving food stamps, medicaid or other programs provided to people out of work, should be required to attend basic training programs and/or be given a limited time to seek and find a job. By training programs I mean interviewing, appropriate job attitudes and behavior, dress, employee interaction, etc. and maybe some basic clerical, word processing, computer type workshops. Nothing too expansive, this is the individuals responsibility.
3. Employers.. if you hire someone and you're paying a starting accountant at minimum the $20,000 per year they should be getting (this is a low minimum I know), and they are not working out.. fire them. If you are paying a fair starting salary and plan on grooming and promoting good employees.. you'll quickly find someone who'll be around and benefit your company for a long time to come.
If you're going to be cheap, and expect great work.. it doesn't matter where your business is located in the United States.. you're not going to maintain motivated and dependable people.
Lil for governor!!!
Glen,
I feel the same way about Porkchop.
I will be glad when he is done with his worn out message.
Boycott Porky's!
PP
PS: Yes. I am peeved. Sorry for using your site to vent. I will restrain my stuff to my blog from now on.
Don't apologize this is an open blog. You say what you like I'll accept it, if its evil I'll delete it, but I'll also say what I have to say if you don't like it delete it or don't read it. Now were on a level playing field....
I definitely don't want to be an apologist for any lazy workers. And we've got our fair share of them here. But I was here before the boom, most jobs were TT jobs and a some larger stores and auto places. Salaries were low, but compared to what people had come out of (WWII) and taking into consideration the low cost of living and lack of exposure to a more modern way of living.. you rarely heard complaints about salaries. People here worked hard and got paid well all things considered. Babysitters and housekeepers were Chamorros and Carolinians. The best mechanics here were Chamorros and Carolinians..so on and so forth.
Of course many people here have become used to an easier life, but I still personally think, and it's been my experience, that people who get paid properly for their job and who aren't just treated as pack animals, but are provided with additional opportunity and growth if they prove their worth, will turn out to be good employees.
I've seen it. I've gotten into this debate with many in the business community. They have the same argument.. "local workers are lazy". The first thing I ask is.. how much do you pay an hour? In almost every case, they're paying unreasonably low wages. Let me correct myself.. in every case in these discussions they've paid these low wages. And again, this is the case with Mr. Atalig arguing on this.. he can't because he's paying certified mechanical engineers $6.25 an hour when they should be making $30.00 or more an hour.
Lil... Chill out a bit, wind down a little, way to much java today...
You got good ideas, if fact excellent ideas and even the methods to deploy them, but slow up and smell the roses...Take a breath. These things won't go away, and leave you holding the bag, they will still be here tomorrow too.
You're too cool!
Eh, got nothing better to do today. :)
Hi Glen,
I'm back on line and I'm back to blogging. Thanks for the email a couple of days ago. (Took two or three days just to clear the email backlog).
I'll drop by later and post to this string as I have a very strong opinion about it.
Until later,
BB
Here is the promised opinion:
The labor problems here, for local and contract worker alike, are not that some arbitrarily set wage considered fair by some and outrageous by others is not imposed. The problem is this government over the years has diddled with the free labor market in so many unproductive and counterproductive ways that the labor force is all but useless. The moratorium, designed to reduce the flood of incoming workers turned out to be a mechanism whereby the really talented contract workers glommed on to good positions and stayed there but the vast majority of semi skilled, lazy or incompetent workers drift from employer to employer using an astounding knowledge of the labor process to play the Labor and Immigration departments, as well as the ombudsman, like a cheap violin. The inability to hire and fire and to set employment conditions has, and will continue to hamper businesses and will continue to dampen wages and productivity until it is finally stopped. The real truth is many, no MOST of the contract labor force is so unproductive as to not be worth the $3.55. That still leaves a big bunch of very productive, very skilled and very useful workers out there, say 30 or 40 % of the total. Those 30 or 40% are the people that should be retained. The rest should be fired, shipped off to somewhere else and replaced with a new batch, and/or with competent, productive, well trained local employees. Productivity will vastly increase and higher wages for all will follow.
By the way, I don't have a 20% local hire ratio...mine is 70% local hire full time and 100% of the small part time work force. I don't find the local employees lazy or unproductive or excessively AWOL in any greater or lesser proportion than contract workers. People are people. Some good ones, some bad ones.
This topic seems to never be brought into focus, but it exists and is a serious one. It's a head in the sand issue. I'm only exposing it to bring it out. My only purpose is to help alleviate it, whatever the solution may be. I personally have no interest in it myself. I think I made that clear, but sometimes the outsider sees the forest and not only their own personal trees.
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