In addition to the 'great resignation' wiping out jobs across the U.S., there is something else that has hit our labor force. The vanishing American work ethic.
"Loss of work ethic is a huge problem for companies today" said culture expert Joshua M. Evans, "When you remove the incentives for hard work, there is a rapid decline in productivity. Successful organizations should be sprinting in the other direction, they should be incentivizing hard workers and then firing their slackers."
Remember the phrase 'paying your dues'? That has been replaced by 'pay me up front' with many workers expecting all the perks without the works!
"It comes down to a bit of entitlement" Evans told KTRH, "Especially with the recent generations coming into the work force, they've been given everything for their whole lives, and now all of sudden if they have to work for it they're going to fight against that because that's not what they're used to. We've conditioned them to get it before they've actually earned it, and I think that's one of the biggest problems."
It's not the only problem. Coming out of the pandemic, you have high wage workers who have decided to retire early, and then at the other end of the spectrum, there are low wage workers who are still making more money to stay at home.
Back in the day, we used to laugh at Europe for being 'lazy'. Now, the rest of the world is laughing at us!
"Work is good, not just for the individual and their personal confidence, but it's also good for society" Evans said, "The welfare state was never meant for it to keep people on it constantly, it's meant to be a net to catch people, not a hammock for people to live in."
With our economy in shambles, and inflation at a 40-year high, many Americans are working 2 or 3 jobs to make ends meet. Maybe it will lead to the return of our work ethic.
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