Unmotivated Laborers

[michael bucher]

With most of us who have employees, one of the biggest problems is worker motivation. I personaly have problems with guys who want big money, but cannot be depended on day in & day out. I have noticed over the past several years, an increase in migrant workers on lawn & landscape crews. I've been told that a lot of these workers have families back home in Mexico that they are helping to support. The average DAILY wage in Mexico is $5 to $7 for a day of work. It seems to me that they would be much more motivated to work here due to the vast difference in the pay scale. They seem like extremely hard workers to me. Any thoughts on this?

 

[Lazer]

I would be hesitant to broad-brush a whole group of people.<p>But,<br>We do have hispanic workers and do find them to be harder working ON AVERAGE than some of the others.

 

[Evan528]

this summer during the drought i helped a guy i no out doing landscaping. he has about 10 workers from daminican republic...they work there asses off! in 105 degree days they work and work like there not even feelin the temps... 12 hour days most of them were working and then after that going back to work at a night job. ive never seen anything like it.... they also do a very good job and catch on quick.

 

[michael bucher]

That's good to hear Evan! I would pay above and beyond what I normally pay for workers like that.

 

[JML]

I have a few south american workers that i employ. If you treat them well and pay them just a little more than what they would get elsewhere, they become very dedicated and come back year after year.. That is so true about working in 100 degree weather like it was nothing..

 

[HOMER]

THESE FEW POSTS SPEAK VOLUMES OF THE AMERICAN WORK ETHIC DON'T THEY!!!!!!!THE KIDS COMING UP TODAY ARE GOING TO BE NO BETTER OFF, ALL THEY WANT TO DO IS PLAY AND PARTY. FROM TIME TO TIME A GOOD ONE WILL COME ALONG, BUT ITS FEW AND FAR BETWEEN. ITS SAD THAT NOT ONLY ARE OUR INDUSTRIES GOING SOUTH BUT THE EFFECTIVE LABOR POOL IS COMING NORTH TO REPLACE THE INEFFECTIVE, UNAPRECIATIVE, GENERATION WE HAVE TO PULL FROM. WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO TURN THIS AROUND?<p>HOMER

 

[Lanelle]

People need to learn how to work, just as they need to learn how to read, write and think logically. How can children see the benefit of work when most never really &quot;see&quot; what their parents do, are educated in a play environment by teachers who often don't set rigorous standards or goals (we want everyone to feel sucessful)and are given everything they want? Setting work goals and having children who spend some time working along side their parents or other adult helps to teach them the value of work.<br>My husband has taught several young men &quot;how&quot; to work. One now has his PhD. and another has his Masters. Both thanked him for the valuable lessons learned.<p>----------<br>Lanelle<br>

 

[Guido]

From my point of view as a 20 year old, I'm very sorry that I can't back up my generation x's y's z's or whatever &quot;they&quot; call us. I was raised in an old school italian environment where my elders made sure that I was learning more about work than video games. I ran a succesful outdoor maintenance business since I was 16. I am now in the U.S. Air Force, doing runway construction and base maintenance as a heavy equipment operator. I work with some of the laziest people in the entre world. the guys I work with think I'm crazy when I'm out in the heat busting my ass and taking a little pride in my work. When I'm supervising a crew, and a younger Airman tells me he's done with a job or task, before I even go look at it, I ask him, &quot;how do you think it came out? &quot; and &quot;What do you think I'll have to say about your work when I check it?&quot; I love hearing &quot;good enough&quot;, because once they hit me with that, I send them straight back out there. If its only good enough, I don't think its finished. So I'd have to agree with you all on this one. MOST (not all) Younger people these days have the attitude of doing a half-ass job, just enough to get by. It really makes me sick that this is the attitude these kids were raised with. The other thing I noticed is a screwed up welfare system in our country. We are way too spoiled. I had a debate once with someone who told me they're father couldn't find a job. He had no disability and he was only 35 years old. I suggested manual labor or McDonalds, etc. Her comeback was &quot;why would my did go to work at a minimum wage job, when he can make more staying home on welfare!&quot; That proved my point exactly. Most of us are so spoiled that we can't even see it. I think migrant workers that have a choice between busting there ass for $5- a day compared to busting there ass for $60-$120 a day will definetly work hard for there money. They know what it is to not have the luxery's that we are givin freely in the US, and they do not take it for granted. It's sad, but true; America rather take hand-outs then work. I didn't mean to babble on, but I wanted to give you a &quot;younger&quot; perspective of what we see going on. I get going on this, because these people give me a bad rep, and force me to have to proove my self time and time again.<p>----------<br>&quot;guido&quot;<br>David M. Famiglietti

 

[Bobby]

This is what happens when we kick GOD out of our schools and tell our children there are no moral absolutes. (above posts) I have said I could of been rich a long time ago if I could of kept all the work that I've had to sell along the way because of sorry help. Worst case I can think of ( It was Wednesday about noon. One of my guys starts looking at his watch. He says pull over. I stop the truck , he says I've made enough today to buy a six pack and a bag of smoke.I need my money. I told him to get with me Friday and left him standing on the side of the road. This is just one of many. I gave up on helpers. I now do low volume/high quality work.By my self. Bobby Ft Lauderdale

 

[Guido]

Okay, I'm coming back to ask for trouble. What can we do about the slouches of tommorow? I know I won't let my son sit around and rot his brain on dumb cartoons and video games. When he's old enough he'll be out working around Dad, learning how important it is to take pride and do your best, no matter how stupid the task may be. I read my post(above) a few times now and realized None of us came up with any suggestions to stop this problem. (besides instilling (sp) values in our children and the teen's we can &quot;save&quot; by being a mentor to them. Manual labor and such are classed as undesirable in todays world of computers, I know, but what would the world be, or become for that matter without plumbers, carpenters, all around construction and maintenance men and women. When I was in high school, I had all kinds of Dr.'s, lawyers and fancy schpanzy &quot;business men&quot; (those guys that don't really know what they do every day but they have a fancy titl) but never once did I see an engineer, construction worker, god nows a garbage man would get laughed off the stage. This is telling kids that the only people that do our lines of work are the people who aren't smart enough to hack a &quot;prestigous&quot; job. We all know it's BS. I've seen more people come out of 4 years of college and not have one damn skill that they can do. I'm not downing an education, (especially because I'm pursuing an associates in Construction Technology, and a bachelors in either horticulture or business management (hopefully both)) Some of the smartest people around are the people we learned our trades, and more importantly our work ethics from. And I think we need to push to the youngsters how important &quot;services&quot; are to the places we live. The world would stop dead in its tracks if it weren't for us &quot;dummies&quot;. <p>----------<br>&quot;guido&quot;<br>David M. Famiglietti