When did kids get so lazy, irresponsible, uninformed, unmotivated, boring & just plain stupid? I have kids applying for jobs, driving nicer cars then me–provided by their parents of course. I have never had staffiing issues like this before, but it seems in the past 3-4 years things have gotten worse.
Not only are they lousy employees, but they are really just littly p***ys. I would love to see a book at the local borders placed on prominent display with the title: “Parents. Why your children wil grow up to be losers”. After terms, I have had parents call me up to complain why their son/daughter who works a grand total of 8 hours per week has been fired for not being able to work for 3 consecutive weeks…with no notice? Are you f---- kidding me? Your feeding the monster, not me. To be 21 again and this be the competition for jobs & money.
You said it, the parents just give them what they want to shut them up! The parents are too busy being selfish (both working to keep up with the Jones!) and fail to raise their kids so the TV winds up doing it. So what you wind up with is a kid raised by the spoiled brats on MTV, American Idol, Big Brother, and the OC! Thank God for the few left that get it and raise good kids. I work very hard to hire only them, and pay them very well to keep them.
We personally have trouble with the older employees. My kids that are in school are always on time for work, never call in sick, schedule off way in advance, and are generally hard workers.
Its the older people that are out of school. They don’t have transportation, they are always late, they call in sick, want to try to switch shifts at the last minute. They goto the club and spend every penny they make every night.
Turning up late.
Pulling false ‘sickies’.
Phoning on the day to say can’t come in with a feable excuse or no excuse.
Not turning up at all, no phone call.
Changing shifts without any notice.
Giving lousy service when they not happy.
Ripping you off.
When you give them a rev up for not having a job ethic, they quit on the spot and then proceed to bad mouth your business to everyone.
They then go to employment services to see what else they are entitled to after having quit with no notice and been totally irresponsable and unreliable.
We bend over backwards for our staff, try to help them where ever we can, Have helped heaps when they get into financial strife,
This is how you get thanked…
We love the business, love the customers but have had an absolute gustful of ungrateful staff who treat the place like a convenience to them.
I have had and still have some of the same issues you all are talking about. You can either figure out how to manage this new age group or get out of the business. Here’s a link to get you all started. http://www.bbmcareerdev.com/gen_y.html
This book is great too: Getting Them to Give a d**n by Eric Chester Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Borders will carry it.
The sooner you see how this generation operates and looks at the world the sooner you can harness this Generation abilities.
They can be difficult. But the way that we view them is the same way we were viewed when we were their age. Truthfully, the ‘quality’ of Americans has been on a steady decline since the Greatest Generation '30s through '40s.
Don Shula, one of the greatest NFL coaches ever had to adapt to four decades of different behaviors and attitudes. He was successful in identifying the type of people he had on the team and understood what motivated them. The same holds true in our pizza restaurants. How well we manage the people we have will determine how successful we are.
While I understand where you going with the ‘quality’ of Americans. I tend to think that it’s on the Greatest Generation for this decline. Afterall they were the parents/role models/authority figures for the next generations.
With that being said I totally agree with the football team analogy. I do both coach football and run a store. And I have the same issues with both groups of young people. It took me getting out of my store and dealing with the same age group in a different setting to realize it just wasn’t the kids willing to work in a restaurant that act like this… So I decided how do I make my life easier? That answer was find out how to get these guys to work.