Where is America’s Work Ethic

I often find myself wondering what happened to America’s work ethic. With the high unemployment rate I often hear people complaining about how hard it is to find a job. Many times I want to ask some of these people why they are looking for a job when they don’t actually work once they get one. It seems to me like more and more people just want to show up, spend their eight hours, and collect a paycheck without really working for the money they receive. In the era I grew up in that was called welfare, or getting a hand out.

Work means just that work. You show up, do your job to the best of your ability, for the time you are there and produce results. That seems to be happening less and less anymore.

I have worked for a small local business for the past seven years now. During that time I have come to label my co workers into three categories.

The Hard Workers. Those are the people who are the backbone of the business. They do their job to the best of their ability, they are reliable, and helpful to both the employers and the other workers. They do what is expected of them and more times than not they go beyond the expected whenever there is a need. Sadly this group is the minority where I work.

If you talk to most of these workers for any length of time you will find that they count themselves lucky to have a job in these economic times, and are dedicating themselves to helping see that the business thrives so that they will continue to have a place to work. They are also the ones who seem to hold our employers in the highest esteem.

The Barely Workers. Every work place has these. They do just enough to get by. If it isn’t written in their job description, then it isn’t their job and they are not going to do it. They are always the ones who ask for special days off, and want paid for any additional minute they work over. They complain about how little they are paid, and often either feel the boss is unfair or look for ways to take advantage of any extras the employers offers. They rarely if ever help out a co-worker unless doing so gets them out of their own work and is easier than the job they are paid to do.

The Almost Workers. These are the employees who show up and that is about all they do. They spend more time finding ways to get out of work than they do working. If they are actually forced to do a job, they spend an unreasonable length of time getting it done so that they do not have to do anything else. These employees must be admired for their skill at manipulating others into doing their work for them while they collect the pay for the job or jobs they didn’t do. Should they find themselves disciplined for their lack of work, they are the first to cry at the unfairness of it all.

Unfortunately, these workers are making up more and more of todays work force. They feel that their employers specifically and the world at large owes them. They give little back and resent it when harder workers are singled out for recognition. They often blame others for work that is not done, and are more often than not the first ones to seek out the employer complaining about other workers not doing their jobs.

If we really want to stimulate our economy and see that every American has a job, then we as employees need to see that we are all hard workers. We need to give our all, treat the businesses we work for like it is our own, and give full value for the wages we receive. To do less, drains our employers, and co workers alike and makes hiring workers from other countries to work American jobs a inviting prospect.