... down to an average. Making a company effective with average employees is management's responsibility.
This is completely off topic but since we have such a diverse group of informative and helpful people here, I thought I might throw it out for any possible responses.
My company has grown quite a bit in the last couple of years; with that we have nearly doubled the number of staff in a certain division of the company. The problem is that none of these "new kids" have any clue just what the hell is going on. We created an entry level position to help train them before having to think and do for themselves, including in house seminars, and shadowing senior deptartment members. However, all these efforts result in little to no retention of knowledge, no advancing skills; basically no improvement of any kind.
The work ethic and attitude of our shop has changed due to this influx of new hires. Less attention is paid to little details and quality has been sacrificed. A couple of us spend hours supervising easy and repetitive projects that should be done without any assistance. In previous years, one was expected to work independently and be responsible for problem solving, quality, and finishing on time. Our effeciency is lacking and productivity is not nearly acheiving the results one would anticipate from the man hours we spend.
Additionally, some of us that have been around since the earlier days, don't think they appreciate just how easy they have it. We really had to know our stuff years ago, since there was noone to bail us out of problems. Nowadays, there is always someone to solve the problems, or do all the thinking for you. It seems as though the expectations have been lowered, and this just cannot go on, or be tolerated anymore. Many, including me recently, are so tired of dealing with it that they are willing to resign and move on, but I wish we could work something out first.
Despite many attempts to bring this to their attention, management has not seen fit to address any of this, so we must take action ourselves. I am looking for suggestions on how to improve the learning curve of new employees, encourage a better general attitude and work ethic from everyone and boost morale back up to where it was 4-5 years ago. How can we instill the values of our best people into the next generation? Do you feel we have grown too rapidly and not reacted appropriately, or just going through some growing pains? Any other thoughts, ideas and suggestions would be appreciated to help improve our situation.
Thanks for indulging the topic on this board, I don't know who to ask or where else to turn.
much appreciated, mr.man
Apparently there's no use for you old timers, and new guys are coming in cheaper. Since your just supervisng them, you aren't contributing to the bottom line anymore.
You are so screwed.
I really can't explain it. Over and above the actions you state have been taken I do not know what to suggest. I had no patience or tolernace for slack work ethic and accepted ignorance... and as a manager in the corporate world had my hands tied on many issues (hiring decisions, training, discipline and rewards). My advice is to find a place with a better atmosphere and co-workers that you like, or strike out on your own. Not helpful, I know.
Good luck!
This is one of those things management needs to take a hand in - if quality and production suffers, the bottom line will surely suffer. Management needs to set goals for trainees, a certain time frame to develop a certain level of confidence, and show them the door if they don't measure up. A few firings can go a long way in motovating employees.
I am not sure if this really fits in. I was just having this conversation with my 17 yr old the other day. No professionalism in the work place anymore.. No matter where you work. Its the day we are from I guess.. My first job was in retail at 16. We weren't allowed to wear jeans... converse with our friends... eat in front of customers.... use the intercom system and say " Yo Jiggy, send me some of dat ovah to aisles one, danks man !"
People just do not care anymore. They are there to get the paycheck. Management does not care...they have homes.. food on the table.. stable positions and a good hefty check... People just do not care anymore..
And yes It is all about the small guy..Welcome to Corporate America
...little you can do if these newbies are really as bad as you say. You can teach someone a skill and they may gain experience but a true 'desire' to work is not something learned...it comes from within. The pity is that the worst in the group creates an atmosphere that brings everyone down to the 'lowest common denominator'. Management would do best to listen to you oldtimers but perhaps it is time to look elsewhere for work.
Reading your tale of woe, it seems like the organizational structure is destine to fail....especially if you did not hire stars.....and it appears that you grew so quickly that you settled for marginal employees.
It sounds to me like a house cleaning is necessary....then goals and objectives need to be set up and measured ..... and the employees (all of them) need to be held accountable for not only their contribution, but the contribution of the team.
Once these building blocks are in place, keep interviewing until you find some that "get it".
An enema into a stagnant organization can do wonders for moral.
Dingus15 - Management Consultant
I'm impressed Dingus...
Cheers!
Some of the remaining "limbs and twigs" will get the message.
... down to an average. Making a company effective with average employees is management's responsibility.
See the young employees as the individuals they are, rather than members of the "new kids" group. Some of them can be developed successfully. Keep your expectations high, and show them that you have confidence in them. Discard those who do not or cannot respond to this.
If I showed a new employee the manner in which I wanted something accomplished and they failed to do so I applied a learning curve and realized that not all people catch on as quickly as others. Hence strike one. If again I had to reiterate,
I began to question whether A): this person does not possess the intelligence or skills required to fulfill their obligations of their position or B): they do possess the required intelligence and/or skills needed to complete the tasks but either because of discontent or plain laziness they simply do not wish to apply them. Strike two. If after re-reiteration, and the problem still prevailed, strike three...they were cited with inability or unwilliness to complete the required work and were let go.
In all cases with new employees, this one-on-one "contract" was presented as early as the first interview. They were completely aware of what would be expected of them and the consequences of inaction even before they were hired. This was my form of "pre-weeding" out the undesirables. If the situation did arise (not often) I simply reminded the failing/failed employee of our initial "contract".
You cannot resign yourself to failure by indicting the entire class of "new kids". There HAVE to be some performers in there, or hire others who are.
Once you can find a success story, you can analyze the system faults that causing failures in service delivery. Then, here's the good part, you can propose solutions to management.
Management is looking to implement SOLUTIONS. Too many employees think they are shopping at F*&$-ing Wal-Mart, just complain and your company will work to satisfy you. The result? BUPP-KUSS!!
Propose solutions and be prepared to implement them. Help transform the organization. Eventually, you will be rewarded. If your current employer doesn't, their competition will.
Peace and Success to you...
Silk
I hate to say our commercial media, rock-bottom education system, and unattended social problems have done their work.
/Zin
think about the messages the kids see in the so called realty shows... "doing it right" is nothing more than being political and playing the game. Good habits are learned young and refined by constant reinforcement. Expensive, difficult, and met with resistance when one must change habits acquired in youth. Suggestion. Insist that new hires go skydiving and they have to pack their own parachutes. Then take them scuba diving and remind them that if they f*ck up their dive tables they will die a horrible death from the bends. Then go hiking through a lion and hyena infested part of Africa and remind them that the hyena in that district have developed a taste for man. Or, dump them in the Sunni Triangle for the Ramadan season. If that's too intense they could try working in a Guandong industrial park or sew uppers on athletic footwear in a sweatshop. Then take them back to the hyenas, before they summer in a favela in Rio and get their asses shot at three times a day, prior to a stint in some Russian copper mines...
Better communication with management is needed.
Management needs to be informed regularly until they truly understand the situation. Without their backing, all your efforts will fail.
Once management is onboard, then programs can be worked out to reward productivity and get rid of the deadwood. People need to be given a chance, but after they have, they should suffer the consequences of their own actions.
In your first paragraph, you describe how new employees are essentially "babysitted" for a period of time.
In your third paragraph, you describe how the employees who were there in the lean years understood that their efforts might just decide the fate of the company.
It's not the next generation. The next generation always moves twice as fast as the current generation, if given the chance. It's usually the current generation holding back the next generation that creates the attitudes you're seeing.
Why does this happen? Is it because the current generation has built something of value and become conservative because they are afraid of failure?
Teach them to fish.
Once they start fishing, praise them and show them respect for their growth.
We all started somewhere. Once they demonstrate a basic ability to learn, insist on excllence, all the while re-enforcing they are smart and worthy. I have never met a willing person who did not respond to this method.
I totally get that many or most of today's newbies are recalcitrant. But I have found that most will respond as they feel themselves achieving something - many for the first time in their lives.
The ones who refuse to try, cut them loose.
I quit my company becasue they refused to hold folks accountable and rewarded fools. I do have an idea what you are facing. But if your mission is to make your position better, do your damnedest to elevate those around you.
If this isn't your professional mission - GET OUT NOW!!!
Maybe I live in a bubble, but I am constanly impressed with the abilities of my company's young workers, regardless of the geography that I meet them in. The likely reason for the success is that the company that I work for screens rigorously before hiring anyone.
-- Modified on 12/7/2004 9:51:48 PM
I'm truly impressed with the caliber of responses.
Great stuff gang!
As someone whose managed and been managed through 20 years of top tier money center banking...When I look back at surviving mergers and acquisitions,downsizing,dumbsizing.rightsizing,outsourcing,nepotism,old boy networks,reengineering,reorganizations,etc,etc...
one can see why these new generation employees act like deer in the headlights...lol
I was a cat with nine lives only to finally fall victim to a couple of the corporate "solutions"(opposite effect happens too) that I have mentioned several years back.It was a blessing in disguise as I was able to use my years of experience in creating my own destiny. It can be tough but it gives me great pleasure not experiencing anymore, any of the BS terms I mentioned earlier. When I think back to those years...what got me through it was common sense, patience and perseverance and what was surprisingly my downfall in that world was haste and leting my guard down on senior management "perception".There are many here that will understand what I mean.
Corporations have not made loyalty a two way street anymore by their actions.Generation X has witnessed what has happened to their parents and many enter the workforce with a negative attitude because of it.
That being said...many of the "new kids" on the block alao seem to lack patience and common sense and while many are more technically savvy than we were;answers at a press of a computer mouse have caused them to eliminate understanding the theory behind the answer.Robotic...if you will. We all know why this happened.We live now in a 24/7 news and technology driven world that requires immediate responses and solutions.
My solution to your dilemma is to have your new employees go through a seminar in common sense issues that pertain to your business and to know why something is not only good for your clients but good for the company as well.The less "technical" the presentation the better.
Good luck!
Cheers!
-- Modified on 12/8/2004 9:53:41 AM
"truly impressed with the caliber of responses"; I am too VR, I knew I could count on these guys to come up with some solutions or at least suggestions.
It's difficult for me to step back and make an objective third party observation or assessment at this time. Aside from the fact I have no training/schooling in management of any kind doesn't help, I just know this is not working. Many of you were correct to state that not all recent hires fell into the "new kid" category, and we do acknowledge their individual progress.
Thanks to all that responded, I will be passing on a few of your thoughts and ideas to my peers so that we may hopefully elevate those around us (I think I'm qouting someone there), and then show them the reasons how and why we came to the current methods, practices and procedures.
Any other advice would be appreciated, any sources such as websites, books, etc. on how to manage/supervise or motivate employees.
Managed a medium sized group for 18+ years. My feeling is that the approach is the problem. Specifically "We created an entry level position to help train them before having to think and do for themselves, including in house seminars, and shadowing senior deptartment members." Today's new employees need to see progress (in themselves as well as in the work) more quickly than we did. The seminars and shadowing tends to make them more ill at ease early on, and attention wanders. Start them out with a specific job (not necessarily the most important tasks) and assign someone specific to answer questions and get them over humps. After a while, the ones you want to keep will begin to get the picture and ask questions related to more long term goals. At my workplace the 'newbie seminars' don't happen for months to a year or so, and the shadowing is down the road even more, related to specific ideas/goals the new employee needs to advance.