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By Guest Blogger Ryan Lewenza
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It’s official: I’m now a crotchety old fart and today’s blog is going to clearly show this.
Today I’m going to cover the state of the current workforce, and more specifically, the apparent decline of work ethic, particularly among the younger generations.
As long as I can remember I’ve always been a hard worker. This strong work ethic was either driven out of necessity (times were tough in the Lewenza household growing up) or due to my hard-nosed, Polish-Ukrainian father who beat home the importance of hard work in trying to get ahead.
This work ethic was a driving force in me, whether working 2 to 3 jobs while going to university (I was a bartender, worked in a carpet factory and ran a painting and grass cutting business), completing the demanding CFA and CMT designations or working 10-12 hour days for most of my working career.
Increasingly I’m seeing and reading about individuals working fewer hours, demanding a better work-life balance, refusing to return to the office and just overall a decline in work ethic. The pandemic definitely exacerbated a lot of these attitudes and behaviours and I believe this trend could have long-term negative consequences for the economy, productivity and our standard of living.
Let’s start with the ‘Great Resignation’, which was triggered by the global pandemic where workers started to resign from their jobs en masse. The term was coined by a professor from Texas A&M University where he predicted in a Bloomberg article that “the Great Resignation is coming”. He noted dissatisfaction of the work environment, the lack of work-life balance and the pandemic as factors behind this potential trend.
This prediction turned out to be accurate with over 47 million Americans voluntarily quitting their jobs in 2021. This can also be seen in the chart below, which tracks the percentage of Americans who quit their jobs with it hitting a record high of 3% during the pandemic.
Now many of these individuals left their jobs to secure a better job, they retired, or relocated but many just threw in the towel. Maybe there is a connection with the fact that today there is a record high 52% of young adults (age 18 to 29) living at home in the basement, up from 38% in 2000.
US Quits Rate Hit record high following the Pandemic
Source: Bloomberg, Turner Investments
‘Quiet Quitting’ is the next big trend in the workplace, which refers to employees limiting their tasks and output to just their assigned duties, working fewer hours and becoming less invested in their work and jobs. Essentially, some workers are just mailing it in, doing the bare minimum and waiting to be fired. Clearly, impressing the boss, moving up the corporate ladder and earning more income is a low priority for this cohort of individuals.
Just think how corrosive this is to the team dynamic, the relationships between co-workers and managers and overall productivity. If I’m busting my hump and my colleague is mailing it in and playing Fortnite, I’m going to resent them and the company for not taking action. It’s just not fair to the rest of team and the employer, who after all is paying their salary.
And now we have the latest craze of ‘Bare Minimum Monday’. Yes you read that correctly and it’s all the rage right now on Tiktok (this is what I’ve read at least since I’m too busy to be on there). This has been popularized by Tiktok user Marisa Jo Mayes who encourages workers to do as little work as possible on Monday.
According to Marisa she experiences the ‘Sunday scaries’ over the work she needs to complete on Mondays so according to her she’s, “completing the least amount of work necessary to get by that day.” This seems to be resonating with 1.8 million people viewing her recent Tiktok video on the topic.
I was familiar with the expression ‘A case of the Mondays’ but ‘Sunday scaries’ is a new one for me.
Source: Business Insider
I totally understand that the pandemic was hard on people, that work-life balance can be an issue (I struggle with this at times) and that the hybrid work model is here to stay. But I think the pendulum has swung too far the other way and that many workers are taking advantage of the system and employers.
I also admit that I’m sounding like the Grumpy Old Man character from SNL but I believe some workers have become too soft and entitled and if this persists, it will be a drag on our economy and put us further behind in this very competitive global economy.
By the way, we’re looking for smart people – with a strong work ethic! If you have experience as an administrative assistant in wealth management, want to be part of a dynamic business, make some decent coin and reside in the GTA, email me ([email protected]).
And if you want to work 5 days per week at home, always catch the first train home at the end of the day and you get the ‘Sunday scaries’, don’t bother. Turner Investments ain’t the place for you.
Ryan Lewenza, CFA, CMT is a Partner and Portfolio Manager with Turner Investments, and a Senior Investment Advisor, Private Client Group, of Raymond James Ltd.
240 comments ↓
I can hear the keyboards rattling already.
That era of SNL was the best…that’s from a millennial too….now time to get back to work.
Respectable thoughts but I just see this “movement” as a natural pendulum swing from employer-power to employee-power.
With technology advancements, employees are able to complete way more tasks than ever before, without a corresponding rise in income. Many people do the job that a team of 5-10 used to do, and I think that’s a contributing factor to burnout across so many professions. I think taking a step back and realizing that a job is just a job, can be a healthy way to look at it.
I’ve personally been a go-getter for the past decade and I’m not quite sure it was worth it (I live in a tiny condo as it’s all I can afford). Might also cause employers to initiate profit-sharing or bonus structures to incentivize specific corporate goals. Overall, I think your point is taken but not necessarily a bad thing that non career-driven people are not letting work define their life. I wish I could be like that!
I blame the parents. I see friends giving their kids whatever they scream for. It starts at home. My Old man never gave me a thing. He always told me, you want something…work for it. I was mowing lawns and shovelling driveways after school when I was 11 years old to make money. Sheee…it… stay at home after high school??? Not a chance. I was out making it and today I am reaping the rewards…
I rocked up to work last Monday wearing just a pair of Speedos.
My coworkers told me that’s not what Bare Minimum Monday’s is about…
M48BC
Ryan,
Excellent post. You’ve hit the nail square on the head.
Just as free markets do not tolerate unprofitable companies for long, this attitude of little-work but full-pay is not sustainable. The party paying the bill can be assumed to be intelligent enough to see through this in time.
Very glad to hear of your hard work early in life and continuing of such. That Porsche sure looks good on you. I love it when good guys and good values win.
Bravo sir.
I strongly encourage any behaviour that makes me far more competitive.
Doing what was once considered the bare minimum will give you the edge these days. Show up on time, pick up the phone, reply to emails within 1-2 hours and you’re a rock star in today’s environment. Show up to the office and you’re a God.
It’s official: I’m now a crotchety old fart and today’s blog is going to clearly show this.
===========================
Welcome to the club..!!!
…always recruiting…!!!
But back in the day if you worked hard and ‘hustled’ it was possible to afford a house and own a car and all that stuff.
These days no matter how hard you work at a day job affording those thing is virtually impossible and salaries don’t even keep up with inflation. So a lot of it is people just getting sick of that crap and saying ‘why bother??!’
Its a 2 way street, if you get nothin you do nothing.
Now I’m getting worked up. One of the contributors to this problem is the hr method of evaluations. Fillout your own self assessment and we will tell you if we agree. Not a motivator in my books. The lazy spend oodles of time on this, like they’re writing a resume, while the betters are struggling to find time to complete the task. Shame on you lazy hr people, time for you to stop downloading your responsibilities to the very people who make your organization work. If you don’t know who has or hasn’t completed their work on a regular basis, you yourself is the lazy disengaged person.
I would guess you won’t be hiring Marissa.
Thanks Ryan!
A great way to take care of the Sunday Scaries is to kick off Sunday morning with 3-4 hours of work. About 1 more hour of account reconciliation here and our pack will be off to challenge the mountain. Looking snowy. Traction devices essential.
Agreed, agreed, and agreed.
What is scary is the fact that our “mailing it in” Canadian workforce doesn’t work. Tried getting any kind of service lately? From mailing a parcel to having a prescription filled accurately to hoping and praying the “team” in front of your doctor’s office will pass a message along. Canada is a self-serve nation for a reason. Having a job has become not much more than “filling a chair”, and now that isn’t even doable for our workforce…frightening times…sign me, the grumpy little old lady.
Marisa Jo Mayes
Is that an image of her before or after Bold Glamour?
Asking for a friend.
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What’s needed is a good old fashioned deep recession is what I say.
See if they continue to resign or WFH or get the Sunday scaries then?
Too much self-entitlement.
Money for nothing – Dire Straits got it right.
Ryan,
Did you also walk through 20 foot snow drifts on the way to school?
Working hard is a phase… It works for younger workers. I honestly pity people who would rather work hard than spend time with their families… The world is hurrying towards disaster what’s the point of always going 150%?…
Your words are very warm and true Ryan for those of us in this era who truly understand work ethics and what is required to show respect and appreciation, it seems as if part of work understanding has been lost somewhere in the clouds along our late journey.
I have no regrets for my 12-to-14-hour days for most of my entire work career, as my late father used to say, “hard work never hurt anyone”, I for one still cherish my upbringing. I worked beyond my 65 year old age before retiring, not out of need but rather out of the love in self satisfaction and contributing to society.
Saying I love you, to my beautiful wife, high school sweetheart on our 52th Wedding Anniversary, I know you read this blog.
Happy and Retired in Comfort
Chalkie
Quote: if you love what you do, you will never work a day in your life
Source: Bloomberg, Turner Investments
‘Quiet Quitting’ is the next big trend in the workplace, which refers to employees limiting their tasks and output to just their assigned duties.
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Well better ensure merit based principles are not just nice words on the companies recruiting page and are actually enforced in a tight labour market. How about not promoting the company suck up and fart catcher and maybe employees will stick around longer.
I believe in doing your job and working hard to get ahead but there is no reason to go beyond when for some work is just a means to a balanced life. I have never heard of anyone on their death bed wishing they had spent more hours at work.
The org my good friend works for has a problem with retention and they have documentation that 80 percent of the folks that leave do so because of their supervisor’s lack of management/leadership abilities basically bullying behind closed doors.
Perhaps Turner Investments is a merit based org with proper leadership but a lot of places are not. You may have been fortunate enough to hit the golden path but do not speak for others unless you have walked in their shoes.
Good leadership is the solution to a lot of the problems faced in many work environments. Attack the root cause.
Things change…slavery…child labour…endless hours, 6 day work weeks, no vacations, having to spend your pay at the company store and hopefully the adherence to fire management on the spot to ensure productivity is maintained in a Team environment at all costs.
It all comes back to measured leadership.
The Liberal Government has caused this 0% GDP catastrophe with such poor policy.
Approves legalization of Maijuana
Provides free CERB money for people to stay home and Not work.
Allows legal Cocaine sales in B.C.
Who feels like working anymore whne they are all high ?
Instills a “buy now pay later” over consumption low interest dependency, and now that interest rates are nearing (but still below) historic average levels, the over consuming public starts to freak out.
Completely squashes the old work ethic Canadian “used” to have.
People need to learn to live within their means, earn money with a job, only borrow for one thing – a house and then only if they can afford it.
Buckle down and start to realize, Your money should come from You working for it and not handouts from a soon to be voted out overspending government.
Raise those interest rates and kill inflation NOW.
Oh Ya . . . You Rock Ryan !!
But I think the pendulum has swung too far the other way and that many workers are taking advantage of the system and employers.
How dare those workers take advantage of the poor, poor system and employers who have been taking advantage of them all these years! Case and point the Toyota factory, where being laid off due to Covid I picked up the shovel and got to work. I was paid $22/hr which is considered good, except my supervisor surprised me given he started out making $22/hr- in 1990! Inflation adjusted my wages have certainly been garnished compared to your generation. Still worked two jobs during those times regardless but I don’t feel bad for the system that underpays
Reads like a bishop whining about church attendance. So what do we do? Bring back jolly good smacked bottoms?
Ah,
The old immigrant “work ethic” story.
I’m an immigrant, too.
Raised 4 kids.
Completed my CPA (CMA) in night school.
At one point worked about 8 years without a sick day.
Always believed in working smart, rather than hard
But work/life balance was always important to me.
Always took my holidays.
Every 2 years a family trip to Europe.
Kids playing sports.
No regrets .
Not the richest guy on the block.
But doing ok.
My kids certainly have a different attitude.
Wanna be partners, rather than being bossed around.
Times are changing, as always.
You want time off work, Punk?
You gotta earn it!
After decades of non-paid holidays, going to work on public holidays and working on a busy part of a house, like the entrance, or hallway, the paid holiday I’m about to undertake is still a bit of a novelty.
If you had asked me in Canada, as a nation do we get plenty of paid vacation time, including public holidays and paid leave, I would have thought we would be towards the top.
Surprised to see Iran has 53 paid vacation days a year.
Canada has 19 in comparison, split between 9 public holidays and ten days of paid leave.
The U.S has just the 10 paid public holidays.
Iran has 27 public holidays, what do they do there celebrate every second Monday?
Some of the Scandinavian countries I expected to be at the top, boy was I wrongo, guessing Norway at number one, would have left me looking like a drongo…
M48BC
Mapped: Which Countries Get the Most Paid Vacation Days?
Total Vacation Days Countries With Least Paid Vacation Total Vacation Days
1 Iran 53 Micronesia 9
2 San Marino 46 Nauru 10
3 Yemen 45 United States 10
4 Andorra 44 Palau 12
5 Bhutan 44 Kiribati 13
6 Bahrain 44 Mexico 14
7 Togo 43 China 16
8 Niger 43 Lebanon 17
9 Madagascar 43 Philippines 17
10 Monaco 42 Nigeria 17
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cp/mapped-which-countries-get-the-most-paid-vacation-days/
For young people, the grind of working hard for long hours was usually to save for a house. Now that home ownership is a pipe dream for most, what’s the point?! What are you working toward or saving for?
I don’t really blame them.
TBT the time Smoking Man had applied at T.I.
The pasty nervous Millennials would have fled, back to their safe spaces.
—-Weekend Deep Dive.
Circling back to the A.I. covered in this weblog and that government document — once a blog topic — from horizons.gc.ca covering bio- and neuro-convergence, man + machine.
Seen elsewhere:
“”The federal government has quietly begun the creation of Personal Information Banks (PIB) to collect and store data on Canadians. We were not consulted nor informed about the creation or existence of these databases and they are being collected without our permission or knowledge. Categories of information include biometrics (DNA, blood type, eye/facial scan, fingerprints, etc), personal biography, medical history, financial history, credit information, opinions or views of or about individuals, and much more.
Here is a link to the government website describing the PIBs. Scroll to the last section for Categories of Information:
https://www.canada.ca/en/treasury-board-secretariat/services/access-information-privacy/access-information/information-about-programs-information-holdings/standard-personal-information-banks.html
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has quietly added it to their Privacy Terms so that in order to submit an application for benefits, such as the One-Time Housing Top Up they started offering in December, you must click that you agree to terms including “…being described in Personal Information Bank (under development)” in order to submit your application. It is also a term in the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) application
They lay it all out in their Departmental Plan for Health Canada 2022/23.
https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/corporate/transparency/corporate-management-reporting/report-plans-priorities/2022-2023-report-plans-priorities.html
“”
I’m a believer in necessity being the mother of invention. People work hard when they have to. With families forming significantly later in life, there exists an extended adolescence where working hard, moving up, earning more, isn’t a priority. But if you’re young and do have that drive and work ethic, really the world is your oyster.
Haha, Ryan.
I think I don’t have to ask you what you think of the “4 day work week”.
Living in your parent’s basement goes hand in hand with hard work. Why rent a nice expensive place if you are never there?
My personal experience, with my own staff, is that my younger workers work harder, and smarter. They are far more proficient with digital tools, and therefore much more productive. They require and demand more hands on but deliver incredible results if you water and feed them. Which a lot of managers aren’t willing to do, they manage teams like it’s 1986 at Xerox or IBM.
Now to be fair these are folks making 120-250K and we have very clear career paths laid out for them. So we have them highly incentivized to work hard and be productive.
In todays age expecting employees to put on a blue suit and grind out 10 hour days in the office is wishful and backwards thinking. As leaders / managers we have control over the culture of the team. If my teams aren’t productive that’s on me and how I recruit, hire, motivate and hold my teams accountable.
So the problem is “work ethic” and not “employer ethic”
If it’s ok for you to say “this ain’t the place for you” then workers can say “this work ain’t for me”
I was going to send in my resume for the job but, alas, it’s bare minimum Saturday, sorry. Try me on Thursday.
So cute to hear Paleo Boomers use bs phraseology like “team” or “family” to describe the modern dysfunctional workplaces they have created.
Not even close. Huge changes are coming.
Boomers, be part of the change.
Or be run over by it.
12th??
Land. Gee is this a veiled Public Private Partnership thingy?
Didya notice our Rulers spend much time convincing us that we are free and have freedom? Why is this.
Orwellian-named “Freedom Cites”. I bet…I bet you will be free to leave them at any time Comrade. Completely and totally free. Why they told us so.
https://nypost.com/2023/03/04/trump-proposes-building-futuristic-freedom-cities-on-federal-land/
Former President Donald Trump on Friday proposed holding a contest to design and build up to 10 new “freedom cities” on federal land that the 2024 presidential candidate argues will lead to “a quantum leap in the American standard of living.”
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Hold the line guys!! Fly that yellow & blue flag as if it is your own. The Russian army is quaking in their boots.
Just another day in the Former First World Countries
https://americanmilitarynews.com/2023/03/77-of-young-americans-too-fat-mentally-ill-on-drugs-and-more-to-join-military-pentagon-study-finds/
A Pentagon study revealed that 77 percent of young Americans do not qualify for military service without a waiver due to being overweight, drug use, or mental or physical problems.
“When considering youth disqualified for one reason alone, the most prevalent disqualification rates are overweight (11 percent), drug and alcohol abuse (8 percent), and medical/physical health (7 percent),” the Pentagon’s 2020 Qualified Military Available Study of Americans between the ages of 17 and 24 read.
https://twitter.com/cosminDZS/status/1623025802425278465?
The Liberal government has completely politicized our military.
Watch the latest Canadian Armed Forces recruitment pitch. Non-stop hammering of diversity, equity, inclusion.
You do come off as an out of touch grumpy old man!
A critical change that you fail to recognize is that new workers are being paid far less relative to cost of living and opportunities. The term ‘wage slave’ exists for a reason.
Further, company loyalty (if it even ever truly existed) is non-existent now. With the loss of company pensions and company loyalty to workers why would someone employed go above and beyond to support their employer where we KNOW the company wouldn’t hesitate to fire a worker to cover the lawyer fees after being caught banging the janitor.
Do I blame these workers? Not at all. They are simply starting to play by the same rules as their employers.
Hey – that’s what they’re taught in our wonderful school system by our socialistic teachers, and the kids’ ever-protective parents.
There are no winners or losers, no real grades or failing – everyone is equally successful, whether they work at it or not, and whether they are smart or not.
No wonder the young’uns are like this. It’s just carrying over from their coddled youth into the workforce.
Mediocrity is an achievement now. Just like Canaduh.
Great post Ryan.
The pendulum will swing past the equilibrium position eventually on the way up to the other extreme…when the next recession occurs…then some work ethics will get readjusted.
“My father beat me and now I have an inability to empathize with other people’s approaches to employment” isn’t the the hot take you might think it is, Ryan.
There’s probably a more pure vein of salt to be mined by looking at the demographic hump we are now getting over, where the world’s most affluent generation are now (finally) retiring, taking their Protestant work ethic mindset with them, and just not being replaced. The days of kowtowing for a job are over; if employers want to pretend it’s still the 80s, they just won’t have any employees – except maybe the ones who are dumb enough to also think the standard of the 1950s should still apply.
Good luck with those guys, Ryan!
Some of the younger work have a “let it rot” attitude which i cannot blame them for. A lot of them cannot understand that hard work does eventually pay off, or maybe it doesnt?
Exec at large organization. This article is spot on. Also much less resilience. The irony is, not seeing greater happiness from those embracing this defeatist ethic, social media posts notwithstanding…quite the contrary.
Ryan, the current terms for slacking off at work are unfortunately nothing new. Over my working career I had the joy of working with individuals who did as little as possible. Even worse, the managers rarely if ever did anything to stop said slacking. Instead, their ‘solution’ was to pile the slacker’s workload onto the productive employees, because they simply didn’t want the hassle of dealing with the slacker. About the only time said slackers were dealt with was during downturns, where their positions were marked as redundant. Your points about resentment & eroded teamwork are bang on.
While I support work/life balance, I find it troubling that so many express their ‘right’ to the upper end lifestyle of their parents without understanding that they may have to sacrifice in order to achieve it. TANSTAAFL (There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch) doesn’t seem to register with them. They truly believe they have a ‘right’ to a ‘free lunch’.
“Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.”
I am a software architect and I am also working around 10-12 hours a day… when I work from home. The idea is simple: when at home I put the two hours I commute per day, into doing meaningful work.
And yes:
1. I talk to the devs, PMs, leads on Slack
2. I meet the clients on Zoom
3. I don’t have to move across the office, book meeting rooms, catch people at their desks etc.
You have no idea how much time this saves.
Today’s photo clearly makes the point. Dogawful mutts have absolutely no work ethic.
In conclusion to posting;
By the way, we’re looking for smart people – with a strong work ethic! If you have experience as an administrative assistant in wealth management, want to be part of a dynamic business, make some decent coin and reside in the GTA,
_______________________________________
What day is it today anyhow, April fools day?
Good one Ryan!
I haven’t had such a good belly laugh in a while.
The concept of working to afford a house might be the most ridiculous concept I have heard.
You set goals, and try to achieve them…sometimes there are set backs, sometimes you need to change your goals. A house can be part of those goals.
I set three goals when we had kids: Healthy, Happy, Motivated. I figured as long as those three things are checked off, my kids/spouse and I will do ok.
FYI…no one in my family cares how nice our house is. We are rarely there. Oddly we did a sizeable reno last year and moved out for a few months….kids preferred the rental house. Closer to 7-11 and McDs and an outdoor community pool.
“Sounds like somebody has a case of the Mondays”
Office Space
The first half of the movie still resonates today.
20’ft snowdrifts AND 2 two miles to school at -40F, uphill both ways.
One more rant:
I recently shut down two divisions I am accountable for due to this crappy lazy attitude….65 jobs that paid more than the Canadian average gone. It was getting too difficult to staff and merely flanges to our core business…could live without it. Why coddle those who don’t have motivation?
Consider the difference in the rewards for working in “your day” and now. In the old days, working 40 hrs/week plus some overtime and advancing in your career rewarded you with a house, car, vacations, retirement, etc. Now?
Stress is showing in US banking. Watch the actions of the regulators/Federal Reserve for clues on how to position going forward.
To be fair, Marisa is self-employed, so she isn’t cheating the boss by having a slow Monday.
If this is what she needs in order calm her sense of being overwhelmed and to push through the rest of the week, then so be it – yes she could probably make more money by putting in extra hours, but that doesn’t seem to be as important to her as improving her mental health. (Being anxious on Sunday about the work you have to do is a real problem that needs to be addressed.)
There’s nothing to suggest that she doesn’t put in a solid effort the rest of the week and complete all the work that needs to be done.
Frankly everyone has some sort of rhythm to their workday and workweek that they find works for them to enable them to get the job done while keeping their sanity. A career is a marathon, not a sprint. Hopefully her viewers’ bosses are understanding.
It’s a basic lack of respect. Same reason kids tell their teacher to f…off, or the bus driver, or the cops. Same reason why folks throw garbage out the window of their car, or speed, or drive impaired. Same reason some politicians refuse to answer the question, or spend $6k per night of taxpayer money on a hotel, or try to use a word like “rapporteur” to try to obfuscate the issue. I wouldn’t just blame the kids for this, this lack of respect is everywhere, but yes there is a definite lack of respect for oneself in the workplace.
https://m.youtube.com/shorts/Bxmihn0u_ak
Thoughtful post today Ryan.
#24, TurnerNation. Re: PIB’s. WOW!
Look – I’m 70 and use to hear the same rant from my Dad, and he was probably right considering at 12 he was the only breadwinner in his family. His father was invalided during WW1 and Dad would bike around Vancouver delivering groceries during the Depression. Sometimes he didn’t even get paid with little recourse to a higher authority. So … he was miffed at our “stoned generation” frolicking at Woodstock and complaining about a regimented lifestyle which otherwise reaped its own reward during the 50s and 60s for families in Canada.
#21 Ponzius Pilatus on 03.11.23 at 11:45 am
Ah,
The old immigrant “work ethic” story.
I’m an immigrant, too.
Raised 4 kids.
================================
4 kids ?
Oh ….so you’re a farmer.
That makes more sense.
I’ve been in leadership roles for 16 years now, and I see the following: the young gen is as motivated as the one before it. They are willing to work long, hard hours. There’s two things that hold them back though. First, they learned early by watching their parents that health doesn’t last forever, so they won’t work themselves sick (rightfully so) and need a bit of balance. And second, they need a guide, a mentor, a journeyman to their apprenticeship so to speak. Our workplaces are stressful and demanding and fast paced nowadays, and they just need someone to invest time into them and show them the ropes, coach them, have their back when they screw up, and make sure they don’t make fatal mistakes. I think it’s more a failure in the boomer/genx generation that we often haven’t been willing to invest personally in these kids that they don’t get that “family” feeling at work that bonds them and commits them to those 12 hour days. 12 hour days are awesome and rewarding when they’re part of a team that’s making progress under the steerage of a competent leader, they’re not so fun when you don’t have the guidance to be efficient and successful.
My suggestion for other leaders is that if you want w that bust their a**, make sure you’re closely mentoring them and supporting their development.
There’s hard workers and lazies in every generation, hire for the right attitude and teach the rest.
Oooh! This is gonna be a lively steerage section today.
I heartily concur, Ryan. Saw this phenomenon long before C19 though.
Work ethic died with those who followed Gen Xers. My working class, Silent Gen parents made it very clear to me at an early age that my work ethic was a reflection of their work ethic, and they would brook no tarnishing of their reputations.
Any of my parent’s friends who had lazy sons that wanted to drop out of school and fork the dog entrusted their male issue to the care of my father, who ran a logging camp/finishing school. Six weeks of setting chokers was usually sufficient to bring about a miraculous transformation in attitude. I never heard any of them regret the experience.
Never let the words, “that’s not my job”, cross your lips, never need to be told what task to perform if “your” duties are completed. Only ask, “what else needs to be done?”
This is how one learns and becomes proficient in multiple roles, and how to be the first person on every boss’s promotion list. In unionized workplaces, it’s also how you become Public Enemy #1.
Too many parents, both Boomer and Gen X, have spent their lives driving a paving machine ahead of their children. Dog forbid the little participation ribbon winners should experience even the briefest stretch of rough road.
Let your children fail if they didn’t put in the effort required to succeed. Let them feel the consequences of failure. They’ll quickly learn to put the requisite effort into being successful.
IQ and social connections might get you in the door but if you don’t put your shoulder into it, you will not be successful. As it should be. Lazy employees are a cancer.
As a dude, I seek work-life balance not out of lack of work ethic, but to share parenting and home responsibilities with my spouse.
I think it’s important to recognize that the ability to dedicate oneself to work – historically, by men in particular – was often in effect subsidized by the silent labor of a woman at home, or a working women who gave up opportunities at work because she wasn’t able to sacrifice herself 100% to work as men often could. If the culture of this is changing, that’s only a good thing.
I believe some workers have become too soft and entitled and if this persists, it will be a drag on our economy and put us further behind in this very competitive global economy.
I couldn’t agree more. I have witnessed a huge shift in labour attitude over the last 10 years. Some chamges were good some will put us in competitive disadvantage as stated. Vancouver has even more leisurely approach then Toronto or Montreal.
#11 Sail Away on 03.11.23 at 11:05 am
Thanks Ryan!
A great way to take care of the Sunday Scaries is to kick off Sunday morning with 3-4 hours of work. About 1 more hour of account reconciliation here and our pack will be off to challenge the mountain. Looking snowy. Traction devices essential.
——————————–
Sounds like your Sunday is Marisa’s Monday!
Good thing she is self-employed and has this kind of flexibility.
As for Marisa and the rest of the TikTok generation, they’ve elevated self-diagnosed psychological disorders into the all-purpose excuse for their failure to launch.
Victimhood is the new yardstick for social supremacy. Identifying your way to the apex of the oppression stack is the area where the offspring of the middle and upper classes are expending their greatest efforts.
Work ethic is just toxic whiteness, doncha know. Self-diagnosed trans id/race faking/adhd/autism/anxiety are attempts to escape the original sin of whiteness.
Critical social justice theories are driving much of the rise in youth mental illness, whether the illnesses be real or imagined. Maybe turning schools into activist indoctrination facilities was not such a good idea.
I know you’ll figure it out. I wish you peace Ryan. Take good care.
I work damn hard at being a ski bum….
Hey Ryan, if you order a medium 2 topping pizza and aren’t given a large 3 topping pizza instead at no additional cost, is the restaurant “quiet quitting” you? Why do capitalists feel so brazenly entitled to receive more than they pay for when it comes to purchasing employee labor, but not other goods and services?
The fact of the matter is, Ryan, that the days where you could get ahead through hard work are gone. Real median wages have been stagnant for 40+ years, and the covid bump has not even begun to offset the loss in labor’s share of the economy. The reward for a job well done is more work, until you are unceremoniously automated out of a job, or instructed to train your own replacement: an ersatz slave in India.
So Ryan, don’t begrudge the younger generation for finally refusing to hold up their end of a deal that the capitalists threw out the window decades ago.
Competitive global economy? Let me introduce you to tang ping (‘lie flat’), bai lan (‘let it rot’), and mo yu (‘touching fish’) in response (in part) to 996 hustle culture – quiet quitting is not a phenomena unique to the West. The younger generations have different priorities and starting to express them in the employer/worker relationship. I imagine similar complaints of laziness were made at the mere suggestion of a 2 day weekend a century or so ago. I for one am grateful they did complain and pressured for change.
For anyone interested in the truth. People are learning that the system is corrupt. There should be riots not just quiet quitting.
Wealth inequality has spiraled out of control.
https://youtu.be/wOI8RuhW7q0
#122 Sunshowers on 03.11.23 at 9:30 am
The hypocrisy of the small government tech-bro response to SVB has been hilarious.
Just goes to show that there are no libertarians in a bank run.
—
Yep. Privatize the gains, but please please please socialize the losses ’cause regulators should be more responsible but inly when I’m losing money. Best wealth ratchet out there.
#11 Sail Away on 03.11.23 at 11:05 am
Traction devices essential
—
The joke is on you at this point.
It’s no wonder your dogs and the people who kiss up to you for a job are the only creatures that wilfully spend time with you. Being around your fragile ego must be exhausting.
If you want to motivate people to work, pay them a living wage and give them a reasonable chance at affording major life goals (home ownership, children, the occasional vacation, etc.).
Look at real wages since the 80s. They’ve gone nowhere. All the productivity gains have gone to the top. Contrast that with what’s happened to real home prices. It’s a hopeless situation for many, regardless of how hard they work.
Perhaps you’ve heard of the lying flat movement that started in China. This kind of apathy is spreading worldwide, as problems go unaddressed by governments, social cohesion erodes, and power and wealth continue to concentrate in the hands of a relative few.
I work hard too, well above 40 hours a week. Do I think I should need to do that in order to afford a decent lifestyle? No. There are more important things in life than work. But it’s relative easy for me to work extra time since it’s a white collar job. Tell a 50-year-old plumber to work 60 hours a week, and I suspect most will laugh in your face.
I believe some workers have become too soft and entitled and if this persists, it will be a drag on our economy and put us further behind in this very competitive global economy.
——————–
We are not all in it together, and everyone is free to do as they see fit. If they want to try to rise in the ladder to make more $$ because they have families to support, many will do it. If people want to live minimally, with only the need to support themselves in a basic way, but prefer to spend much time pursuing personal interests, rather than killing yourself at work etc.., go for it. If you are 55 and can finance the rest of your life in a decent way, why work at a job that bring you little joy. It’s your call…
Just own whatever decision you made. However, the idea that everyone should work super-hard for the “public good” (as decided by those who are high up on the ladder) in order to have a “more competitive economy” is BS. Everyone is free to make their own call and no judgment should be applied to those who choose a different path.
Hey #31 Millenial Realist Just out of curiosity what line of work are you in ?
Excellent post to day my wife and I learnt about WORK ETHIC from our parents and passed it on to our children .
We worked hard our children are also competitive and work hard and we were proud of them at school, at university and now as they move up the ladder in their chosen careers. Do more work than you get paid for is our family RULE. This family WORK ETHIC has filtered
down to our one and only grandson he at times goes to school at 7 am and comes home at 7:30 and the does 3 hours of home work. He was interviewed on Feb. 25 at
Provincials Robtics at 25 to seven by Global News. Those that refuse to WORK will have nothing to show for there life as they age out and realize that slacking off is not rewarded but will blame everybody from the
Prime Minister down for their LACK OF ACHIEVEMENT.
Now having said that there is more to life then WORK
family vacations to Disneyland , cruises, stays at ocean side resorts are also important as well as hot dogs
around the fire pit along with smores simple, but great
enjoyment in the backyard.
#58 Comrade on 03.11.23 at 1:21 pm
“I believe some workers have become too soft and entitled and if this persists, it will be a drag on our economy and put us further behind in this very competitive global economy.
I couldn’t agree more. I have witnessed a huge shift in labour attitude over the last 10 years.”
People were saying this exact same thing 100+ years ago in response to demands like working fewer than 80 hours a week, and not sending 12 year olds to get blacklung in coal mines.
Literally EVERY SINGLE labor victory over the centuries from weekends and vacation pay, to women and minorities being paid the same as white men and safety regulations, has been fought TOOTH AND NAIL by capitalists who always had the same arguments.
“It will hurt the economy”
“We will be less competitive”
“There will be less innovation”
“We’ll have to close”
It wasn’t true then and it’s not true now, so forgive my skepticism of your Chicken Little line of argumentation.
Was self-employed a hundred years ago, and any marginal effort was rewarded with marginal profit.
Now as a salaried serf in an IT call center, the employer gets 8 hours of solid effort and not one minute earlier and not one minute later. Our activity/input is monitored by Teams and absence of KB activity is recorded— after 5 minutes.
Trust and mutual respect and motivation to work for $0/hr? pffffffffffft.
39 Linda on 03.11.23 at 12:27 pm
Ryan, the current terms for slacking off at work are unfortunately nothing new. Over my working career I had the joy of working with individuals who did as little as possible. Even worse, the managers rarely if ever did anything to stop said slacking. Instead, their ‘solution’ was to pile the slacker’s workload onto the productive employees, because they simply didn’t want the hassle of dealing with the slacker. About the only time said slackers were dealt with was during downturns, where their positions were marked as redundant. Your points about resentment & eroded teamwork are bang on
—————————
What I learned in my Organizational Behaviour classes, and in my long experience in Leadership roles is:
“Work ethic is commensurate with rewards ie wages and job satisfaction”.
If you pay peanuts, you’ll get a monkey.
#56 Old Boot on 03.11.23 at 1:02 pm & #60 Old Boot on 03.11.23 at 1:29 pm
So well written and so true. Gawd, I love Old Boot…
Victor Llearna “But back in the day if you worked hard and ‘hustled’ it was possible to afford a house and own a car and all that stuff.”
All the more reason to work even harder! I get this point though. Young people have it harder today with respect to home prices. But that’s no reason to throw in the towel and accept mediocrity. Work harder, save more money and be ok with owning a home a bit later in life or renting. We’re so obsessed with home ownership but look at Europe where the majority of people rent. So instead you build up a big portfolio and have more of your net worth in financial assets. But don’t sit on the couch, complain about life not being fair and be envious of other people’s success. – Ryan L
Instead of blaming the younger generations for “poor work ethics”, how about you look at how different their situation is from yours, and how hopeless these folks are. For people living in Vancouver or Toronto, what’s the point of working hard? You will never be able to afford proper shelter even if you get a promotion by “working hard”. The incentives that motivated you to work hard and climb the ladder don’t exist anymore.
Driftingz “Did you also walk through 20 foot snow drifts on the way to school?”
No that was my dad that did that or so he told me. But I did shovel countless driveways when I was young to make some extra $$. – Ryan L
I read an article that Franz Kafka’s works, like The Trial and Metamorphosis are making a comeback among Generation Z.
And some writers are seeing parallels between today and the late 19th and early 20th century.
Ukraine war/Tension in the Balkans.
Times of uncertainty and war mongering.
Arts have always been a mirror of the Zeitgeist.
Edward Munich’s painting “The Scream” is a prime example.
Could Nietzsche make a comeback, too.
As a parent of 3 in their late 20’s /early 30’s…I am not going to “beat up” on their generation as lazy and slackers.
Back in the day…my peer group and generation was married before they were 30 and had children .
My children’s peer group ???
…..marriage is few and far between.
Children??? Pfftt !
IMHO..
….Big Brother has slowly- but- surely infiltrated literally every aspect of all our lives, and more specifically our children’s future. They are being attacked on many fronts via social engineering etc.etc.
I tried my best and tried hard for a promotion during the first ten years of my career.
Then I gave up. Something changed in me, similar to Peter in the movie office Space.
#64 FO on 03.11.23 at 1:35 pm
Competitive global economy? Let me introduce you to tang ping (‘lie flat’), bai lan (‘let it rot’), and mo yu (‘touching fish’) in response (in part) to 996 hustle culture –
+++++++++++
You forgot to mention “fling poo”(figure it out) as practiced by some here on this blog.
Ponzius Pilatus “The old immigrant “work ethic” story.
I’m an immigrant, too. Raised 4 kids. Completed my CPA (CMA) in night school. At one point worked about 8 years without a sick day. Always believed in working smart, rather than hard. But work/life balance was always important to me. Always took my holidays.
Every 2 years a family trip to Europe. Kids playing sports.”
Don’t get me wrong, I like taking my vacations and spending lots of time with my family. I just got back from coaching my kids hockey game but now I’m working on these blog comments. Work hard, play hard! – Ryan L
Seems to me if your slacking off on Monday when you are slammed at work, then the rest of the week will be a nightmare. Stay ahead of the game and there is less stress. There is something very satisfying about completing a task but, oh, that takes work god forbid.
You sound like a Millennial, Ryan.
If one or more employees are flaking at work, whether in the office or WFH, the fault lies squarely on their manager.
If the manager can’t run their shop, they should be performance managed out and someone who can actually do the job and either motivate or fire their underlings should be brought in.
Whiny complainypant managers who can’t execute are the real problem.
Ponzius Pilatus “I think I don’t have to ask you what you think of the “4 day work week”.
Not in our business. We wouldn’t have clients for very long if we told them we shut down on Friday’s for some R&R. – Ryan L
“We’re so obsessed with home ownership but look at Europe where the majority of people rent. “
Actually for the most part the percentage of people that rent in Europe is the same as Canada. In some European countries the ownership percentage is much higher that Canada.
All my relatives in Europe own their own houses/apartments.
Interesting post Ryan. I think the fact your post ended with a job recruitment ad is the very definition of irony.
Canadian productivity already sucked compared to US, even before the pandemic. Not every one can be promoted, so be grateful for the slackers amongst us, that are content with being corporate ladder shims. Just ask Dharma Bum!!!
What a completely thoughtless blog post. Maybe next time instead of writing a piece complaining about how the younger generation has no work ethic, you can analyze why these trends are occurring and what changes we can make as a society to fix it.
#48 Scott in Gibsons on 03.11.23 at 12:49 pm
Consider the difference in the rewards for working in “your day” and now. In the old days, working 40 hrs/week plus some overtime and advancing in your career rewarded you with a house, car, vacations, retirement, etc. Now?
—————
Yes. Now doing the same just rewards you with a house, car, vacations, retirement, etc.
People complaining about a younger generation that doesn’t work hard probably don’t spend much, if any, time working with younger people.
I do. I see no problem.
When is Old Boot entering politics – will volunteer my hard earned slacker time to get him elected.
47M Americans quit in 2021?! Are you sure the decimal is in the correct place?
Stop.The.War.
I think working hard for the man went out the window a long time ago. Loyalty is a two way street. The more hardnosed employers have become, the more “checked out” their employees have become. You’ll find the employers, who are the biggest complainers about worker productivity, are the ones with the most Dilbertish policies.
I do not believe for one second , working from home has affected “work ethics”.
Only people who complaine about these, hiding behind sociologists, doctors and other academics are comercial real estate holders!!!
ALso it is an insult to the younger generations that they have low work ethis. (HIllary Clinton once said , ” For the younger generations work is just another four letter word”, for which she got scolded by her owndaughter, Chelsea.) For they DO work hard!!My kids work extrmely hard! Working smart is the key not long or fixed hours.
#83 Ryan Lewenza on 03.11.23 at 2:55 pm
Don’t get me wrong, I like taking my vacations and spending lots of time with my family. I just got back from coaching my kids hockey game but now I’m working on these blog comments. Work hard, play hard! – Ryan L
=====================
Agreed:
Our children were involved in numerous activities outside school.
Many of these were team sports.
We went on many road trips for tournaments, we had a blast. Our older (2)children made REP teams.
In hindsight, many of their best friendships came from sports. This has helped them network.
#31 Millennial Realist on 03.11.23 at 12:07 pm
Got some bad news for you MR. Most boomers have already left the work place. The management class is X’ers and mills these days. i.e. people like you. Looks like you might have run yourself over.
#74 Ponzius Pilatus on 03.11.23 at 2:19 pm
What I learned in my Organizational Behaviour classes, and in my long experience in Leadership roles is:“Work ethic is commensurate with rewards ie wages and job satisfaction”. If you pay peanuts, you’ll get a monkey.
=====================
Absolutely correct. Wages aside , Too many companies naively hire based on education and attitude then fail to provide proper training and even more so mentorship . I found that investing your time as a manager into a new onboarding and having a realistic plan to train ,coach and build relationhips (yes ,the boomer dreaded business lunch every so often ) makes a huge difference.
Too many managers and executives nowadays seem to think that people land in their jobs fully trained and require no further coaching and human interaction while expecting them to match the workload and work quality of a more tenured and experienced employee.
The other thing is that we all know that truly only 5-10% of employees will be the superstars so why expecrt that from everyone else ? Overexpectation of perfromance for “market wages” is another way to corporate say it.
when I first started working I would visit clients and meet people who were in the same job for over a decade and I would wonder ‘how can someone be happy doing the same job and not want more?”
I realize now not everyone wants to reach for the stars… they prefer to get home ASAP to their kids, or do more in their hobbies, etc.
At the end of the day, I can respect their choice even if I don’t agree with it.
For the record, I own my company and have kids too
I totally agree with you. I worked in a government position, and I found that there was little recognition for the person who worked hard, and those who did minimum got the same pay. I was a health care worker, who had a colleague hired to job share. This individual did minimal and always left in time.
I always did the best for my clients and often would stay late too,ensure optimal care. This fellow, not so much.
There was no recognition of my work from upper management. My reward was the compliments from my patients.
I am a different generation, and different work ethic.
I am sure that his patients got sh**t care.
But, he did not care. It was all about him and himself.
I don’t know Ryan, you’ve been in the workforce far longer than me, I’ve only been working, let’s see… carry the 1… 40 years or so. In there I did manage to get a P.Eng. as well. But I don’t remember it the way you do due to my lack of experience. In my 40 years:
There have always been lazy people.
There have always been people sleeping at their desks.
There has always been the water cooler crowd.
There have always been unions.
There have always been kids who dump their flyers.
There have always been slackers.
There have always been incompetents.
There have always been cheats.
There have always been malcontents.
There have always been people who are a hazard to anyone around them, including themselves.
The only difference I see, is nowadays people feel free to discuss themselves on the internet saying things they never would have discussed publicly before, for fear of shame. But now they can rise to a sort of infamy by getting all they other lazies to upvote them.
The Pareto distribution has always existed. It’s sometimes known as the 80/20 rule (20% of the people do 80% of the work). But I’m told a closer approximation is actually “the square root rule”. (If there are X – people in an organization the square root of X does most of the work and makes most of the contributions. So if there are 2 people, 1.4 do most of the work so both people are doing something. If there are 10 people, 3 are doing something. If there are 100 people, 10 are important. If there are 10,000 people, 100 are critical and the rest should be glad to be there.)
I think this rule has been with us since the dawn of civilization. The “square root” people drag us along and forward up the hill of progress, doing most of the organization, decision making and creativity, and have most of the skills. Everyone else is just dumb labor.
That’s why Wayne Gretzky doesn’t come along every day. He was the square root of the square root. Pretty much all the big names are in every field. And it doesn’t matter how much your parents paid for your hockey growing up, you either have it or you don’t.
So don’t worry about such things. China has the same problem. They aren’t all “square roots” either. So wherever you are, as long as the dumb labor gets the rocks moved and the floors mopped, who cares what they say on TikToc? And if they aren’t busy all day, that is the fault of management. That’s what happens when you promote people who aren’t square roots.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Chinese use TicTok to prescreen foreigners so they know who to employ when they take over our industry. If you are on there, you don’t get hired. I’ve noticed in the Chinese run businesses I’ve been in they don’t have a lot of bimbos or blue-hairs on the payroll. Lucky for them they are exempt from DEI.
I work with many hard working young people, I can’t keep up any more, especially the travel schedules.
Keep free markets free and everything works out, always has, always will.
The biggest danger the overall economy right now is the wokeness of the Govt.(s), at all levels, and the CEO class.
Almost all major corps. in the western world are run by “leaders” more fixated on DEI & pronouns than profit and vision for the future.
If it doesn’t change, our future is going to look a lot more like South Africa.
Was at work for a couple hours when the boss pulled up in a beautiful yellow Ferrari.
As I was admiring it, he said to me – you know if you keep your nose to the grindstone, working hard, achieving our difficult targets, then I might be able to get a red one next year.
It’s not like a certain generation are just innately “lazier” than an older generation. That’s ridiculous. If it’s a trend, among a large group, to do something like this, we should examine the environmental factors. This “laziness” is a culmination of a thousand different circumstances. Something is driving and has driven it to get to this point.
Do I know what it is? No, I’ve got my own ideas, but they’re not capital R right.
Accusing a whole generation of being innately lazy is….well, it says a heck of a lot more about you than the people you’re saying are “lazy”
Dig deeper.
Add this to the dictionary entry for “late stage capitalism”
This is what I see.
Professional motivated workers coming here from India.
Many with Masters and PHD’s and 150 IQ’s.
They work 70 hour weeks.
They are the only workers our CEO cares about, the rest don’t matter.
They’ll be the only ones buying homes as home ownership percentages decline and you need to be in the higher wage quartile to have anything in life.
Sorry but the ride is only going to get rougher.
No graduate degree, no plus 140 IQ, you aren’t worth nothin.
You better get an 80 hour a week work ethic or a public service union job.
Reality is stark.
Starry-eyed utopianists think that the natural laws of the universe are benevolent forces, inexorably compelling society towards ever more fairness, justice, equity, inclusion, work/life balance, UBI, and student debt forgiveness.
Well, you’re just drunk on a generation of cheap money sloshing through western economies. The hangover is coming though; evolution, human nature, and capitalism have signed no such contract, and are not persuaded by your secular, pseudo-religious beliefs.
Quiet quitting, we used to refer to it as ‘making puppies’
Woa Ryan, you hit a nerve. 100 comments already on Briar Saturday. Congrats.
When did secretary become “administrative assistant”?
@ #23 Mike D
For young people, the grind of working hard for long hours was usually to save for a house. Now that home ownership is a pipe dream for most, what’s the point?! What are you working toward or saving for?
I don’t really blame them
*******
Absolutely true!
Boomers making money hand over fist sitting in their houses with an accommodative central bank filling their boots with equity they didn’t work for…yeah quitting feels good and righteous too.
Sail Away on 03.11.23 at 11:05 am
Thanks Ryan!
A great way to take care of the Sunday Scaries is to kick off Sunday morning with 3-4 hours of work. ..
and our pack will be off to challenge the mountain. Looking snowy. Traction devices essential.
=========================
I thought today’s “Calvin & Hobbes” seemed familiar.
https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2023/03/11
Cheers, R
These tests are all crap. Ask someone to handwrite a page about themself and their work experiences and what they gained from them. You will see in a minute if you want them or not.
https://www.linkedin.com/news/story/bosses-2b-question-who-are-you-5571620/
SVB got caught sideways on losses in relatively safe mortgage backed securities. They made a bet that went south on interest rate increases.
Canadian Banks, the beacon of safety.
A simple tell is the spread between the loans rates vs. the savings account interest rates.
This is just the tip of the iceberg.
Stay tuned for more “It’s different here/today/take your pick”.
Don’t fight the fed.
I have 3 over 60 family friends who died from health-related causes in 2022 alone. Don’t blame the young for destroying the economy, instead blame it on the Boomers for all dying too prematurely.
You honestly haven’t experienced the public sector work ethic or what?
They can’t even fire lazy employees anymore because they are protected by the union.
But if you complain about the lazy employees, depending on how much clout they have with the Manager or union, you end up in trouble.
Government has to be one of the most bureaucratic, inefficient and laissez-faire workplaces in the world, including Canada.
But they will do a great job auditing bartenders and carpet sellers for a few pennies at the expense of millions of dollars in taxpayers’ monies.
2021: Venture *Capitalist*
2023: Venture *Socialist*
LOL.
https://www.axios.com/2023/03/11/silicon-valley-bank-paid-bonuses-fdic
MFers
Spoken like someone who gets all their information about young people from the media, yet knows absolutely 0 young people in real life. Who are these people you’re talking about? All I know are young people working their butts off every day. My Husband works 17 hours some days in the trades. He comes home with hands almost crippled from working so hard. Bruised, battered, and black. I’d like to see you do that. You wouldn’t survive 10 seconds in a job like the trades. But yeah, keep talking about “hard work”.
#96 kommykim on 03.11.23 at 3:28 pm
Agree.
#91 Sail Away on 03.11.23 at 3:14 pm
Hey Sail Away, surely you will be able to show us that real wage growth has been positive. Or, show that what you pay your new workers is equivalent (inflation adjusted) to what they would have earned in, say, the 1970s.
Thx.
109 Old Boot on 03.11.23 at 4:02 pm
“The hangover is coming though; evolution, human nature, and capitalism have signed no such contract”
Capitalism has existed for only a few hundred years at most. MONEY hasn’t even existed long enough to integrate itself as part of human nature as part of a behavioral evolution standpoint.
So saying that capitalism is part of human nature makes as much sense as saying the Marvel Cinematic Universe is.
For hunting dogs, there’s a saying that all you need to do is look to the parents. Good parents=good pups. Genetics.
For some reason, it seems the genetics of Saskatchewan farmers are really good. When an engineer who grew up as a Saskatchewan farm kid walks into our office, we just go out for a good lunch and put together the offer.
I’m definitely in favour of the ” great reset”. That’s where EVERYONE is fired with no severance (except HR). After that, everyone applies for the job they really want. Should be fun!
I can count on one hand the days I missed at work over four decades. My worst job was in the Alberta government, where we were encouraged to take days off, and the emphasis was not on performance but on covering the governing party’s butt. I lasted a year and finally quit in disgust, along with about half of the department.
Employees are not incentivized to work hard. Greedflation is eating away at earnings. Performance reviews at my employer changed this year to grade nearly everyone as average performers to cut down on pay raises and bonuses. We’ve all been told that promotions aren’t in the budget either. There is no reason to try one’s hardest except for company loyalty, but the company has been doing layoffs, so why be loyal when it’s one-sided?
Corporate greed is what’s killing productivity, not “soft” workers.
#118 Gen Z on 03.11.23 at 4:46 pm
You honestly haven’t experienced the public sector work ethic or what?
They can’t even fire lazy employees anymore because they are protected by the union.
=================================
Yep…
Worked at public sector union back in the 1980’s
…..my forte’ as new guy was to hussle and work hard…
….was soon pulled aside by one of the senior union boys…who told me
“We walk around here….We don’t run “
#111 Axehead on 03.11.23 at 4:16 pm
Woa Ryan, you hit a nerve. 100 comments already on Briar Saturday. Congrats.
/////////////
Imagine how many comments he would have got on a workday. 200, 300?
This is where companies invest in AI, and our standard of living will be alongside the shanty towns of Indonesia. People think this is impossible due to our high standard of living, think again.
There are plenty of good kids still out there and I aplaud them…but there still is no free ride in this world.We still reap what we sow if u want something u have to put the time in.I worked forty years before retiring then another 5 part time I am presently 74 yrs old and drive a truck in harvest season cuz it still feels great to do something constructive.
Talking to people in the workforce today I find the overall malcontentment very sad and disheartning.The future of canada in productive terms does not look good.
I enjoy your blog Ryan and Garth,keep up the good work.
#108 Reality is stark on 03.11.23 at 4:00 pm
This is what I see.
Professional motivated workers coming here from India.
Many with Masters and PHD’s and 150 IQ’s.
They work 70 hour weeks.
They are the only workers our CEO cares about, the rest don’t matter.
—————————————–
Reality is that India does not have a particularly larger number of people with 150+ IQ’s than we do, no more so than say people who are 7 feet tall.
150+ IQ is the square root of the square root. You’re talking about Steve Jobs. Or dare I say, Elon Musk. Or a few unquestionable names from science, Newton, Einstein, Feynman, Darwin, etc.
To the Indian or Chinese work ethic I can’t speak. But what I do know, I just read “The Doctrine of the Mean” and the Tao because they came packaged in a nice volume with “The Art of War” at Costco. I’m going to have to read them a couple more times I think, it’s worse than the bible in that way, but one message seems to be clear throughout ancient Chinese philosophy: A lack of morals among the common people is the result of a failure of leadership brought about by a lack of morals among the princes. If the leadership seeks beauty, goodness, and truth, the common folk will do likewise. If the leadership seeks divisiveness, strife, and all manner of corruption, so will the people. A benevolent leader brings about benevolence in the people. A greedy leader brings about greed in the people. A brave general inspires the common soldier to greatness. A coward leading an army is soon defeated, as his soldiers will be afraid to fight.
Who are our leaders?
#64 FO on 03.11.23 at 1:35
…and mo yu (‘touching fish’)
————-
I hope to be doing a little “mo yu” soon. Specifically Pike, Walleye, and Carp.
#121 Faron on 03.11.23 at 4:56 pm
#91 Sail Away on 03.11.23 at 3:14 pm
#48 Scott in Gibsons on 03.11.23 at 12:49 pm
Consider the difference in the rewards for working in “your day” and now. In the old days, working 40 hrs/week plus some overtime and advancing in your career rewarded you with a house, car, vacations, retirement, etc. Now?
———
Yes. Now doing the same just rewards you with a house, car, vacations, retirement, etc.
———
Hey Sail Away, surely you will be able to show us that real wage growth has been positive. Or, show that what you pay your new workers is equivalent (inflation adjusted) to what they would have earned in, say, the 1970s.
Thx.
———
Well, that’s irrelevant to my comment, so no, I won’t do that.
But, relevant to my comment: all our employees working 37.5 hrs/week, together with a bit of overtime can definitely afford a house, car, and vacations… and if they invest only the minimum company matched portion of RRSP at 7% return, end up with $1M in 30 years / $2.2M in 40 years (actually higher, since that’s just using an average starting salary for the duration).
Glad to help.
#122 Sunshowers on 03.11.23 at 5:05 pm
109 Old Boot on 03.11.23 at 4:02 pm
“The hangover is coming though; evolution, human nature, and capitalism have signed no such contract”
Capitalism has existed for only a few hundred years at most. MONEY hasn’t even existed long enough to integrate itself as part of human nature as part of a behavioral evolution standpoint.
So saying that capitalism is part of human nature makes as much sense as saying the Marvel Cinematic Universe is.
**********
Nowhere did I say that capitalism is part of human nature, but way to beat that strawman into submission!
Now let’s see you punch your way out of that wet paper bag.
Time for a four day work week and vacation days like in Europe. Most jobs are dead end anyway, promotions go to the connected. Work hard, yes, but kill yourself no.
Ryan, thanks for addressing the work ethics issue. My parents had very little too. I was the typical kid who wanted stuff like my other friends had. My dad’s answer was that he would buy me something that money can’t buy, and that’s an education. I too held down part time jobs while completing my formal education
I went on to get my masters degree in leaderhip and have never looked back. It wasn’t about what I was able to buy with a better salary but the feeling of pride and satisfaction. When work ethics is enstilled in you, you leave poisonous businesses and search for innovative positive cultures
Now I’m retired and appreciate the quality of life I have. I volunteer in many areas in my Canadian and Snowbird communities. There were many years of nose to the grind stone but the rewards far surpass the struggles
Now that was pathetic.
The carrot was taken away, there is not even painted carrot, the reward aka ‘the American /Canadian dream’ is long dead.
The notion that people should have ‘ethics’ of any kind and work their behind off for little to no reward, when robbed of future is idiotic at best, bats..t insane as closer to the correct term.
The young people are not idiots. Not spoiled either.
They are the screwed generation with stolen future and no chances whatsoever in life.
Basic necessities – housing, ability to reproduce and support kids, well paid jobs as to sustain decent living are practically out of reach, no matter how hard you try.
It is very easy to judge, putting yourself in other’s shoes requires actually some intelligence.
Quiet quitting is the proper response to the failure of authorities and quickly worsening standard of living.
Requiring people to be intelligent, smart and have work ethics contradicts the requirements to be blind and ignorant as to take the s…tty deal offered to them.
The next generation will well fix the elite’s wet dreams
and that is the hope of humanity.
And any company should understand that employment is a two way street.
A company does not own the employees, it is like marriage with efforts, responsibilities and respect expressed both ways. The war and competition for real talent will only require companies to be flexible, understanding and respectful.
And I could not care less for your company’s rules of engagement.
——————————
#108 Reality is stark on 03.11.23 at 4:00 pm
That reality is very different in the rest of the world.
Requiring 80 hours weekly of hard work from the people with high intelligence for the all the ‘benefits’ (i.e. none) in the great white north (aka the frozen hell) requires some nerves. I recommend professional mental help.
———————–
And I am kind of sick and tired also from all the moral preachers who feel qualified to pass unsolicited advices on how people should behave and what they should do
And Ryan, giving yourself and your firm as an example of success, hard work, work ethics is kind of very inappropriate and arrogant.
Requiring commitment and work ethic’s from employee requires commitment, decent pay, flexibility, work ethics from employers.
If you are not willing to provide it how can you expect such in return?
#126 R on 03.11.23 at 5:26 pm
Employees are not incentivized to work hard. Greedflation is eating away at earnings. Performance reviews at my employer changed this year to grade nearly everyone as average performers to cut down on pay raises and bonuses. We’ve all been told that promotions aren’t in the budget either. There is no reason to try one’s hardest except for company loyalty, but the company has been doing layoffs, so why be loyal when it’s one-sided?
Corporate greed is what’s killing productivity, not “soft” workers.
————————————
I hate to burst your bubble, R, but the top performers are still getting top pay. They always do. Otherwise they go get another job. It’s an invisible hand thing.
#82 Yukon Elvis on 03.11.23 at 2:53 pm
You forgot to mention “fling poo”(figure it out) as practiced by some here on this blog.
—
Lessee who has launched actual poo-based insults around here… Ah, yes. You have!
Can’t make this stuff up boys and girls. Brought to you by a lonely septuagenarian wasting away in kelowna-ville.
Working hard < Working smart
Who wants to work hard for easy money?!
Has anyone took a hard look at what is going on around us?
Authorities protect the lazy, the irresponsible and the corrupt at the expense of the diligent.
Young people see all this no matter how hard the authorities try to hide it behind virtue signalling.
Make money hard, stop fleecing the diligent to reward the irresponsible and the attitudes will change.
#11 Sail Away on 03.11.23 at 11:05 am
Thanks Ryan!
A great way to take care of the Sunday Scaries is to kick off Sunday morning with 3-4 hours of work.
———————————————————-
An even better way would be to spend a couple of hours in church.
Get a chance to ponder what’s really important, keep your ethics on the right track, focus a bit on those around you and helping where you can, pondering your mortality and what comes next….
As the saying goes, No one dies wishing they spent more time at the office…
Work to live, don’t live to work.
Don “ALso it is an insult to the younger generations that they have low work ethis. (HIllary Clinton once said , ” For the younger generations work is just another four letter word”, for which she got scolded by her owndaughter, Chelsea.) For they DO work hard!!My kids work extrmely hard! Working smart is the key not long or fixed hours.”
Oh your kids work hard. Then I guess case closed. – Ryan L
> All the more reason to work even harder! I get this point though. Young people have it harder today with respect to home prices. But that’s no reason to throw in the towel and accept mediocrity. Work harder, save more money and be ok with owning a home a bit later in life or renting. We’re so obsessed with home ownership but look at Europe where the majority of people rent. So instead you build up a big portfolio and have more of your net worth in financial assets. But don’t sit on the couch, complain about life not being fair and be envious of other people’s success. – Ryan L
You know how economists (usually big C conservatives) like to warn Liberal/socialist governments that they can’t raise taxes because then all the rich job creators would just flee the country?
Make the cost of living exorbitantly unaffordable to live in, and watch all the young workers just stop giving a shit. No, can’t be, it’s just because young people are innately lazier than me…..talk about not being self aware
Adam “Accusing a whole generation of being innately lazy is….well, it says a heck of a lot more about you than the people you’re saying are “lazy”.
I never accused a whole generation of being lazy. Nice try. If you read the article you’ll note I use the words like some, increasingly and among so your characterization is incorrect. – Ryan L
I’ve been working for $20/hr at the local hospital since the pandemic started, 2 days off the entire time. Hard work does not mean you can afford to live.
It just means you can take pride in your work, and help people(which I feel would be enough reason to work). But that is not necessarily remunerated in enough to either rent/buy housing, or purchase food.
It appears to be a different world nowadays.
Hard work is its own reward, but it would be pleasant to have nice things as well.
I’ve never understood why people who want their lives to be work feel threatened by those that don’t share their values. Guy next to you isn’t working as hard as he could be? Be assured in your faith that your hard work will not go unnoticed and you’ll be promoted. If anything, it makes your promotions easier. I often see the opposite, but hey – to each their own. In my mind, it is folly to expect anyone that isn’t an owner – or somebody who gets a windfall from company success – to care as much about the work as you do. They are not owners.
#133 Sail Away on 03.11.23 at 5:46 pm
#121 Faron on 03.11.23 at 4:56 pm
#91 Sail Away on 03.11.23 at 3:14 pm
#48 Scott in Gibsons on 03.11.23 at 12:49 pm
Well, that’s irrelevant to my comment, so no, I won’t do that.
—
Relevant for Scott’s comment that you are arguing against, but narcissism.
Too bad, turns out that some engineering fields are the only ones that have seen real wage growth. Declines across the board in real terms for decades in almost everything, especially the lower end of the pay scale.
So, no, working as hard today as years ago nets one less. 1/2 a house, vacation every few years etc.
If the RICH were more loyal to their workforce than their majority shareholders then you wouldn’t have this problem.
There’s only so many times you can kick someone in the teeth before they finally realize there just another number and voila – you get a generation of workers that get the hint.
The theme seems to be: keep taking away/reducing pensions and benefits, extend workhours and do more with less.
Layoff and fire the workforce when management screws up and give them goldend parachutes for a job horribly done.
Welfare for the rich, to hell with the poor.
You rich folks created this monster. Now it’s time to shave off some of your GREEDY billions your sitting on and help those that got you where you are!
#139 Faron on 03.11.23 at 6:15 pm
#82 Yukon Elvis on 03.11.23 at 2:53 pm
You forgot to mention “fling poo”(figure it out) as practiced by some here on this blog.
—
Lessee who has launched actual poo-based insults around here… Ah, yes. You have!
Can’t make this stuff up boys and girls. Brought to you by a lonely septuagenarian wasting away in kelowna-ville.
++++++++++++
I fling poo and it sticks on you. Looks good on ya too. Bozo.
i was a head of the curve on this in high school some 35 years ago, working is useless, we were all lied to.
example, my friend is doing his taxes this weekend, asked me a question, so i am self employed and i pay the employer and employee portion, yes, i said, and i do this for like 35 years, yes, and when i retire i will get like 1000 month, i said about that yes, inflation adjusted. so what happens to the money when i die he said.
well, i said it dies with you. he paused and said what, i said the money dies with you, there is no lucky pot of gold that you worked hard for, its all illusionary.
so, there it is, the real scam of working for yourself in Canada. Hes single and is a small contractor unincorporated, sure he smokes pot and drives a big f150, but it all ends with nothing in the end.
that is why millions of people dont work, because they know if they work hard, they end up one inch higher than the bottom, so millions just say its not worth it and dont try. the system needs changing.
since when do you believe anything from Tic Tok..dear lord
Ryan said: “look at Europe where the majority of people rent”.
Hopefully your financial advice people get is more accurate than the above estimate, Ryan. Romania, one of the poorest countries of the EU, has the highest homeownership in the world, at around 95%. Germany, with the highest % of renters, still has more than half living in their own abodes. And tenants there have MUCH MORE in terms of rights than here in Canada. You are clearly confused on this topic.
You are my hero, thank you Ryan!
I have never said that to anybody before so you know!
Says Ryan: “We wouldn’t have clients for very long if we told them we shut down on Friday’s for some R&R.”
That only means that you’re not offering anything special. Like McDonald’s.
Proper restaurants are open way fewer hours/days, pay their staff better, and offer superior food.
My goodness Ryan….153 comments.
You lit a fire under a comment rocket!
I’m a bit late commenting ….I was working.
Another juicy OT job.
More tomorrow.
What we need is a Recession.
A deep, long, cold, job crushing, recession.
I’m ready for it.
:)
And since the Trudeau Liberals have already given away 75 Billion to CERB….me-thinks….that Federal cash cow has been milked dry.
I cant wait to see the wailing on tv from the legions of lazy, semi employed, basement dwellers that have had their financial umbilical cord severed.
Life is cruel…deal with it.
@#118 Gen Z
“Government has to be one of the most bureaucratic, inefficient and laissez-faire workplaces in the world, including Canada.”
++++
You are 100% correct.
I deal with municiapl, provincial and federal govt employees almost on a weekly basis.
It’s the rare diamond that actually cares and works ….in all 3 levels of govt.
The arrogance, the sense of entitlement, the sloth, the stupidity….never ceases to amaze me.
Fire 50% of all three levels of govt and see if anyone notices.
#151 crossbordershopper on 03.11.23 at 7:24 pm
so, there it is, the real scam of working for yourself in Canada. Hes single and is a small contractor unincorporated, sure he smokes pot and drives a big f150, but it all ends with nothing in the end.
—————————————————–
Working as self employed or working for a paycheck, the issue is you only have 2 arms and 2 legs and so many hours in the day.
To get ahead, you need to think about hiring some people (or subcontracting them), adding equipment (capital) to your value proposition, and incorporate properly with trusted family also as shareholders.
Build the business, sell the business, CRA let’s you each take about $950k one-time tax free.
Need to leverage both capital and people to multiply your capabilities. 95% of wealthy people got their wealth this way.
#148 Faron on 03.11.23 at 7:10 pm
Well, that’s irrelevant to my comment, so no, I won’t do that.
——–
Relevant for Scott’s comment that you are arguing against, but narcissism.
——–
I knew it was a mistake giving you a fix. Hey, only 42% of your comments are about me today. Good work, Obsesso!
#134 Old Boot on 03.11.23 at 5:47 pm
#122 Sunshowers on 03.11.23 at 5:05 pm
109 Old Boot on 03.11.23 at 4:02 pm
“The hangover is coming though; evolution, human nature, and capitalism have signed no such contract”
Capitalism has existed for only a few hundred years at most. MONEY hasn’t even existed long enough to integrate itself as part of human nature as part of a behavioral evolution standpoint.
So saying that capitalism is part of human nature makes as much sense as saying the Marvel Cinematic Universe is.
**********
Nowhere did I say that capitalism is part of human nature, but way to beat that strawman into submission!
Now let’s see you punch your way out of that wet paper bag.
*********
You might have been a manager of sorts in your career. But you are no Leader.
#150 Yukon Elvis on 03.11.23 at 7:15 pm
#139 Faron on 03.11.23 at 6:15 pm
#82 Yukon Elvis on 03.11.23 at 2:53 pm
You forgot to mention “fling poo”(figure it out) as practiced by some here on this blog.
—
Lessee who has launched actual poo-based insults around here… Ah, yes. You have!
Can’t make this stuff up boys and girls. Brought to you by a lonely septuagenarian wasting away in kelowna-ville.
++++++++++++
I fling poo and it sticks on you. Looks good on ya too. Bozo.
*******
I take it leading by example was lost on you.
What does “working hard” mean?
How do you measure it objectively?
In the olden days, where most work was manual.
The answer was easy.
But nowadays it’s not that clear cut.
Musk fired the coders at Twitters who produced the least lines of code.
Not realizing that those were the ones that actually were the most productive.
Genius?
My contacts from inside Russia tell me that the young men there have recently adopted a very good attitude towards their work. No more getting drunk & missing work. No more pissing off the boss with poor attitude. No more quietly quitting. They like their job in the factories making artillery shells, working on the railways, in the mines, farming or whatever. Same with the students. Those left in the universities are very diligent in their studies. Hard working, motivated young Russians. Denying Mother Russia her just deserts is Soviet “old thinking”. Pretending to work & Pretending to be paid has been replaced by Pretend to work & then Pretend your not on a train to the killing zone. Laziness isn’t generational, its situational.
Which Manager works harder?
The busy bee that comes to work one hour early, talks a lot, is in everybodys face, micromanages and selects an employee of the month.
Or the one who selects competent employes and delegates.
First Republic bank looks interesting, wonder if this is going to pick up momentum.
https://mobile.twitter.com/Dr_PhillipB/status/1634632068058722304
There are many high paying and rewarding jobs to be had, but you might actually have to work, make sacrifices and use your noggin to do them. Alas, we are filling these positions with hard working immigrants. Canadastan has allowed the lunaticks to run our asylum, and made free speech very un-free, so as to not offend anyone with such trivialities as speaking the truth. And the rot began at the top (politicians) of all stripes. Now it has oozed down through society and formed an odorous puddle of slime in the basement, where man-children dwell. Would the resident bubble boy of this blog from Kelownastan agree?
Speaking of odorous slime, politicians, lawyers and judges top my list. Used car salespeople, real estate agents and tax collectors can’t hold a candle to these vermin.
#160 DON on 03.11.23 at 8:42 pm
#150 Yukon Elvis on 03.11.23 at 7:15 pm
#139 Faron on 03.11.23 at 6:15 pm
#82 Yukon Elvis on 03.11.23 at 2:53 pm
You forgot to mention “fling poo”(figure it out) as practiced by some here on this blog.
—
Lessee who has launched actual poo-based insults around here… Ah, yes. You have!
Can’t make this stuff up boys and girls. Brought to you by a lonely septuagenarian wasting away in kelowna-ville.
++++++++++++
I fling poo and it sticks on you. Looks good on ya too. Bozo.
*******
I take it leading by example was lost on you.
+++++++++
That only works with well adjusted adults Don.
oh boy.
Personal anecdotes and broad generalizations.
welcome to your curmudgeon years Ryan ;)
Agreed 100%. But from a middle class parents perspective… we both have to work full time to make ends meet, especially lately, and then essentially work another full time job to manage the home front and volunteer for kids activities. My guess is that the sum total of this work ethic is a heck of a lot more than the single income/stay at home spouse norms families could get by on back in the day… or say 1 high income/1 stay at home spouse nowadays. It’s not like we all just miraculously have more energy nowadays, of course something’s got to give. But for these slacking D.I.N.K.S or singles, grow up and contribute something to society, quit milking those who do.
#77 Odif on 03.11.23 at 2:35 pm
Instead of blaming the younger generations for “poor work ethics”, how about you look at how different their situation is from yours, and how hopeless these folks are. For people living in Vancouver or Toronto, what’s the point of working hard? You will never be able to afford proper shelter even if you get a promotion by “working hard”. The incentives that motivated you to work hard and climb the ladder don’t exist anymore.
—————————————————————–
There are other places to live besides Vancouver and Toronto in this country. There are many places to live in Canada that are affordable. Alberta has many.
#165 Really? Not! on 03.11.23 at 9:06 pm
Now it has oozed down through society and formed an odorous puddle of slime in the basement, where man-children dwell. Would the resident bubble boy of this blog from Kelownastan agree?
++++++++++++
You sound like Faron the Foul. Are you two acquainted?
Think about this, Canadastanadians- this upcoming, basement dwelling generation we have spawned will rule over us all one day. This most censored generation, who are terrified to speak, terrified to think for themselves and will demand more censorship going forward. Thankfully I have an escape plan that’s foolproof! Eat unhealthy foods and love it, drink copious amounts of unhealthy alcohol, smoke my brains out via cheap contraband cigarettes, partake of illegal and unhealthy illicit drugs and drive my pickup with bald, unhealthy tires.
Did my comments trigger you Elvis? Or are you secretly dwelling in a basement in Kelowna with faron? I’m curious.
#164 millmech on 03.11.23 at 8:58 pm
First Republic bank looks interesting, wonder if this is going to pick up momentum.
https://mobile.twitter.com/Dr_PhillipB/status/1634632068058722304
********
Thanks for the link…interesting thread…goes back to Mark Cuban calling for a bailout. Trump removed the stress test on Banks of that size. Things that make you go hmmmm!
@#162 fishman
“Pretending to work & Pretending to be paid has been replaced by Pretend to work & then Pretend your not on a train to the killing zone. Laziness isn’t generational, its situational.”
+++
Yep.
WWI all over again.
But this time the ‘Allies” have Germany with them.
A recession may be the least of our worries.
If the 30 something basement dwellers are conscripted to go fight in a foreign land…
Drill sergeants don’t do your laundry, make you breakfast or….. pick up after you……
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PerFdIrDBBQ
@#173 Really? Not! on 03.11.23 at 11:40 pm
Did my comments trigger you Elvis? Or are you secretly dwelling in a basement in Kelowna with faron? I’m curious.
+++++++++++
good chance elvis, faron, sail way, jaguar are all the same person posting under different names.
most likely in a basement somewhere.
I’m a geezer who’s been comfortably retired over ten years. When I started my career (1970s), companies seemed a bit more caring and random hiring and firing less common. They did not expect you to work ridiculous hours for meagre pay. Towards the end of my working life the demands placed on employees soared and pay pretty much flatlined for decades. I’m not surprised that young people have had enough and expect reasonable pay for a days work and by a day I mean 8 to 10 hours. All they see is an elite getting richer while they are left behind. The Russians had a saying for this: “You pretend to pay us and we pretend to work”
There is no excuse for having employees who claim the hours and try to do as little work as they can get away with. Companies should get rid of such employees, otherwise they deserve getting pushed out of business.
If employees want to work from home, or they want a 4-days work week, that’s another matter. They are not cheating, they just believe in making a good contribution without necessarily spending more time in the office.
Each company can choose what kind of employees it wants. Some will choose employees who work harder, others will prefer those who work smarter. Both concepts have benefits, and we can let the free market decide what works better in each industry.
> I hate to burst your bubble, R, but the top performers are still getting top pay. They always do. Otherwise they go get another job. It’s an invisible hand thing.
Top performance does not imply top compensation. Only front-line managers have much understanding of who the top performers are. Even when front-line managers are well-meaning, they are hamstrung by politics and policies. Pay is mostly determined by how well one negotiated before taking a job. That relates to marketing skills and self-confidence, not performance.
Plenty of folks I work with, including key team members, are demotivated by a lack of pay increases and the stress brought on by layoffs. I don’t blame them one bit for Bare Minimum Mondays, Bare Minimum Tuesdays, Bare Minimum Wednesdays…
I used to work hard, but after the creep of politics into the workplace I’ve decided not to anymore.
I’m tired of attending sessions telling me that I’m to be blamed for the travesties in the world because I’m a white male.
It’s demoralizing and frankly dehumanizing, but if I speak up about how it affects me I’ll likely be fired. Why put in effort with an employer who doesn’t respect me?
You can thank DEI initiatives for my stress, demoralization, and refusal to do more than is absolutely necessary at my workplace.
For 20+ years inside of American enterprise (software) I see the deterioration in work ethics.
And I clearly see it from BOTH sides. Employers lost attitude and ethics even more than employees. Seems, employees just reacting to the moral environment they face.
All those politics, countless meetings, and always lie, lie, lie. Just usual BS.
Countless managers, that not even try to understand the projects, thus not able to estimate what is my real performance.
Google “toyota vs ford boat competition” to get better idea what the nowadays “work ethic” really is.
“Up corporate ladder?” – forget about it. The only way to get a rise is quit and find better paid position in another company.
The actual problem for engineers is lack of positive incentives. Usually, the only ‘incentive’ is a risk to be fired.
Nothing, that would seriously and positively encourage hard working.
If the management of Silicon Valley Bank SVB had been following this blog’s advice they would not have fallen victim to the bond markets.
That is someting to say for Garth and his crew!
Hats off my friends!!!
The old man rails about things being ¨better¨, however I believe that ¨better¨ is now barely visible in the rear-view window.
Laziness rules. Mills constantly spit bile because Boomers seem to enjoy/have more than they do. Most boomers came by it as did Ryan – by working their tails off.
What appears to completely elude Mills is that to get any enjoyment out of what you have, you have to have WORKED for it. EARNED it.
I now strategize daily as to how I interact with business and government. I assess what day of the week and time I´m most likely to get a response and/or better results.
I interact minimally with business by avoiding as many subscriptions and connections to my wallet as possible. It´s just too much hassle dealing with incompetence and lousy attitude born of laziness. Finding ways to avoid $hitty work attitude is uppermost in our household.
Life is simply too short to have to deal with the dreck employed by most businesses today. Retaining crap employees due to labour shortages is a losing strategy.
Simplify, simplify, simplify, buy second-hand and avoid as many ¨services¨ as possible.
Life gets a whole lot better.
Just curious.
Does tiktok user “minimum Monday” Marisa Jo still have a job?
I watched the entire thing unfold before my eyes dating back to the time they put video games in the pinball arcades. I played pinball machines in the arcades 8 to 12 hours a day since I was a kid. All these video games did was teach kids and teenagers that you will always lose. That eventually became engrained in their mind. The competitive spirit among the youth was killed by video games. I believe this affected other things in those peoples’ life. In fact at the time I was going to write my sisters entire PHD on the evils of videos games back in the 1980’s.
@ #10
Marissa is precisely the type of twit who will never have a clue as to what ¨zen¨ truly is. It is not ¨Bare Minimum Mondays¨, ¨Quiet Quitting¨ nor any version of those work-life balance bs memes.
Zen is when you´ve earned enough wealth to get that ¨plateau¨ feeling for the rest of your life. It´s looking down at the every day fabric of life and knowing that you are now above it because your hard work has placed you there. You have EARNED enough to be captain of your ship and you make the decisions. Your life´s time belongs to you now.
It´s called F/U money, independence, and most importantly, you know that the whole wide world is opening in front of you, because……you´ve EARNED it.
Mills think that the world is at their feet because they can finance that luxe trip to Tibet.
Just like the rich people do, eh?
Not really. Rich people don´t borrow to finance junk.
And that fresh air on the ¨you´ve arrived¨ ledge? It´s real and heavenly.
What an obnoxious article. A self declared hard worker. Congratulations on your phenomenal contribution to society. Keep in mind that your job now involves dealing with rich people (not Joe public, who is much harder to deal with), in a comfortable office, without getting your hands dirty. It’s a job, and a good one, no doubt. But your conclusions on the work ethic of young people are ridiculous.
@ #14
That´s right…..keep asking stupid questions.
30 years on, you´ll be wondering what the he!! you did with your life.
Enjoy your porridge and reruns.
#170 Ronaldo on 03.11.23 at 11:05 pm
There are other places to live besides Vancouver and Toronto in this country. There are many places to live in Canada that are affordable. Alberta has many.
—————
Yep. Even in Ontario there are still quite a few cities and towns outside the GTA/Bunnypatch that offer Torontoesque hhi’s (or more) with nice sfd’s at 250K. Better lifestyle and scenery too. Not in IT or CS though…
I think we may be heading into a time where the typical urban white collar office worker is sinking to the bottom of the national standard of living food chain. Ho-hum incomes in the most expensive areas in the country, and lacking the will/ability/knowledge to do anything about it.
European “Says Ryan: “We wouldn’t have clients for very long if we told them we shut down on Friday’s for some R&R.”
That only means that you’re not offering anything special. Like McDonald’s.
Proper restaurants are open way fewer hours/days, pay their staff better, and offer superior food.”
We’re not offering Big Macs or a plate of pasta. Not sure how that comparison is relevant. We’re offer services to our clients and arguably one of the most important services as we look after people’s hard earned savings. So again how many clients would remain with us if we worked part time with their life savings? – Ryan L
Had a phone interview with our Financial Advisor from our bank, asked why our Investments lost 25% last over the past 12 months. I was told because we had a Conservative Portfolio our investments were in bonds, when interest rates go up bond yields go down, then the phone call broke up and I asked her if she was driving, she giggled and said she was on her way to pick up her son from school, I guess this is the new multitasking and working from home and getting paid for it, win win situation but not very professional in my opinion.
Monday mornings going to be very interesting.
Lehman Brothers repeat?
Yellen says no bailouts.
Yoda was once a 6 foot tall warrior with regular speech patterns
Then he used the force on Chuck Norris
#176 Stewart on 03.12.23 at 10:22 am
Had a phone interview with our Financial Advisor from our bank, asked why our Investments lost 25% last over the past 12 months. I was told because we had a Conservative Portfolio our investments were in bonds, when interest rates go up bond yields go down….
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Sigh. The nice lady at the bank, err I mean “Financial Advisor.” She was my downfall for many years(decades actually, so embarassing not to mention costly) until I got smart and started learning how to invest. Thanks Garth!!! The lightbulb moment for me was when I asked her if ETFs might be better than mutual funds and she pretended not to know what an ETF was.
The Trudeau government clawing back provincial health funds over private MRI’s is a complete backfire and only make things worse, not better.
To show you how stupid it is, consider this situation: A patient has a nasty fall and ends up with a ripped up knee. The wait list for an MRI is 6 months. In the intervening six months, the patient continues to use and damage his knee, making the eventual repair more difficult, expensive and with a poorer outcome.
By paying $600 for an MRI, the patient prevents the government from spending many thousands of dollars later on. If the Trudeau government had any understanding, it would reimburse people for using private MRIs as it saves money in the long run and improves quality of life.
But the issue isn’t patient care; it is control. And the Trudeau government doesn’t care how many people are hurt or damaged so that they can flex.
I find it offensive that a patient can spend $600 on opioid painkillers to try to cope with the delays in treatment and the Trudeau government is OK with that, but if the same patient spends $600 OF THEIR OWN MONEY on an MRI to safeguard their own health, then that is an offense worthy of retribution.
Equity, one of the truly disgusting buzzwords of today, only means the guarantee that everyone gets the same crappy, substandard outcome, and that outcome is worse than it should be because the Trudeau government is in charge.
I’m quite certain that if our PM twisted his knee body surfing at Tofino he’d have a helicopter taking for him to a jet and off to the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix.
Private health care has always been an option for the elite. Trudeau just doesn’t think you’re an elite.
Congrats Ryan, on your way to two hundred!
Nobody on their deathbed wishes they spent more time at the office.
Apparently, the Silicon Bank gave out bonuses just before being shut down.
I wonder how much the mail room guy got?
Father’s Daughter “What an obnoxious article. A self declared hard worker. Congratulations on your phenomenal contribution to society. Keep in mind that your job now involves dealing with rich people (not Joe public, who is much harder to deal with), in a comfortable office, without getting your hands dirty. It’s a job, and a good one, no doubt. But your conclusions on the work ethic of young people are ridiculous.”
First of all we work with teachers, plumbers, autoworkers, cops and government workers to name just a few. Sure we have some wealthy clients but to imply we’re out of touch, working in some ivory tower and don’t understand the challenges of everyday Canadians is categorically false. Second, I have been managing people for well over a decade, I work within a large branch and company so I have a good understanding of what’s happening on the ground, I speak constantly with business owners and managers and I’m a research analyst so I’m constantly studying and reading about the labour market and trends. In my blog I specifically reference data and trends that support my conclusions. And the numerous blog comments on yesterdays topic seems to support some of my conclusions. Of course there are hard working younger people but I don’t think I’m far off the mark on some of the broad observations and statements I made. – Ryan L
#62 Lick road clean with tongue
I work damn hard at being a ski bum….
——————————————————————————————————-
Haha!
People don’t realize the hard work it takes to be a bum.
However, in the bum world, Mondays are the BEST day.
The realization that the rest of the world has to get their behinds outta bed to get ready for the weekly grind while we bums can linger over a third cuppa coffee is sweet. (Or, if skiing, Monday is usually the least busy day, so no lift lines and empty powder bowls all day!)
I love it how kids today gotta have it “spelled out” for them by some lame Tik Tocker that Mondays are a slack day. I mean, if that notion never entered their minds instinctively, they must be pretty dense to begin with.
Anyway, like Bill Maher recently noted, if too many kiddos start participating in bare minimum Mondays, they will soon be introduced to “EFF YOU Fridays”.
Ahhhhhh…it’s great to be a crotchety old bum.
All work and no play makes for a dull existence. Even God rested on the seventh day. Enjoy!
#196 Phylis on 03.12.23 at 11:14 am
Congrats Ryan, on your way to two hundred!
=================================
Here’s my tax deductible contribution !
MARISA’S WEEK:
Scary Sunday
Moody Monday
Thumb Twiddling Tuesday
WorkLess Wednesday
Tardy Thursday
Fake Work Friday
Sleepy Saturday
I am a crotchety 45 year old, and have worked my a$$ off, but I agree with the comments on here about hopelessness. I do not blame the younger generation for more than 50% of this because pretty clearly the American dream has never been more difficult to achieve. Perhaps a combination of declining asset values with rising wages can put us back on track.
#200 Bum
Anyway, like Bill Maher recently noted, if too many kiddos start participating in bare minimum Mondays, they will soon be introduced to “EFF YOU Fridays”.
————————-
Fridays and Mondays used to be the days workers got laid off.
Apparently, it’s now any day.
To keep them guessing.
And “Blue Monday” is an old hat.
The saying was “Never buy a car build on Monday”.
Would be curious to know how many Gen Zers are employed by Turner Investments. It’s clear from the tone of this article you don’t have a great read on their work ethic and motivations. I’m an old millennial and manage a team of 20 of them. They will work their asses off if you meet them half way – give them some real responsibility, flexibility and work that has some purpose and they will blow you away. They see through bullshit and will call you on things that don’t make sense and good on them. When I was their age I accepted anything I was told and was stupidly loyal to a company that has screwed ppl over regularly. They are right to not be so loyal to a corporation.
Smashed it out of the park! 200+ comments for a Saturday post. Kudos Ryan.
Boomers, you did not hit a triple.
You were born on third base.
Duhhhhhhhhhh……………………..
Agree. Lots of cross currents though and right now it seems like employers are full on waging war against remote work. I pushed for 100% WFH because housing has so outpaced our salaries over the years (with the covid blowoff being the final push) I am fleeing Vancouver to afford a house big enough for our family. I know this is a major factor for others in my middle age, Gen-X age bracket (with 2+ kids) who want to WFH. We are the mid to senior level people organizations need and we aren’t achieving our goals living in the major cities anymore. I’m not asking for sympathy–I was able to make it a “deal breaker” and my employer caved. I realize I’m not gunning for the Exec team working from home. There should be options and it’s not a one size fits all situation.
RE: Work Ethic…
As children…we all loved summer holidays…
However…In late 1960’s, my cousins and I were gathered at our grandparents house.
Unexpectedly, We were then marched by our grandmother about 2 miles to a blueberry farm for our first “paying job”. (WE thought we were being punished !?!)
This was repeated for 2 weeks(our parents would drive us to and from the farm each day…no more long marches)
It was hot…and we only had the use of outhouses.
Long story short…
…..we learned the value of hard work and the attraction/value of a paycheque.
Our parents were immigrants…had picked at the same farm 20 years prior, and the farm owner had vivid recollections of them.
In hindsight…a very valuable life experience to carry forward and reflect on.
Blue collar manufacturing jobs are eliminated by technology and off-shoring = that’s just capitalism seeking efficiencies
White collar uni-educated jobs pay middling wages and expect employees to actually work = suddenly it’s “end-stage capitalism”
Capitalism only has an end stage if you think it’s soon going to be supplanted by communism. Right. The world’s wealthiest and most politically connected businessmen share the woke values their corporations relentlessly broadcast, yet never actually embody.
See also: Jagmeet Singh is going to be PM, defunding the police is a great idea, transwomen are women, and safe supply will reduce drug ODs.
And the sign said long haired freaky people,
Need not apply.
Ryan, the criticism of the younger generation goes back to Socrates, yet somehow we muddle through. From 1950 – 1980, union power grew to the point where labor behaved badly. In the next forty years, a global shortage of labor led to employers behaving badly. The pendulum is just starting to swing back again, and some employees will behave badly, exacerbated by social media. I suspect we’ll adapt and manage ok.
#123 Sail Away on 03.11.23 at 5:05 pm
For hunting dogs, there’s a saying that all you need to do is look to the parents. Good parents=good pups. Genetics.
For some reason, it seems the genetics of Saskatchewan farmers are really good. When an engineer who grew up as a Saskatchewan farm kid walks into our office, we just go out for a good lunch and put together the offer.
———————————————————–
Good friend of mine married a gorgeous, bright, down to earth Saskatchewan farm girl. Only guy I’ve ever been envious of.
Changing the topic, Gen z’s like ‘rick’ quitting their jobs to earn less money to own the boomers who don’t deserve theirs (he says) is just “chef’s kiss”.
I’m a Dad in my early 40s and I make okay money, though not on the sunshine list or anything like that.
In the “hungry days”, I put my then-wife through school working two jobs. Full-time entry-level job where I worked up to being a manager, plus always worked a musician job on the side. A few years ago, I joked that I semi-retired and only work full-time now. House all paid for and no debts.
What’s more important to me than money is work-life balance. I work in a small non-profit, and have lots of flexibility in my hours, generous benefits, and a nice amount of holiday. Wouldn’t trade this set-up for anything!
#189 IHCTD9
Exactly. You nailed it on the head.
Also, I agree with comments here I’d rather not admit I agree with!! I don’t want to make excuses for slackers but I don’t blame the kids for feeling hopeless, wanting to coast and even burn it all down. The younger you are the more raw a deal you’re getting in our current system. This is simply the sum of all the facts. A victim mentality sure won’t help though. In parallel to “quiet quitting” (and flying intentionally very much under the radar) is “over employment”. This is where WFH has allowed people to hold 2+ full time gigs. The ethics of this are highly subjective but it’s the route many young hustlers are taking to get ahead. I don’t blame them. So pretty soon companies choose between hiring dead beats or people working 8 jobs. LoL Clearly something is wrong beyond just kids with entitled attitudes.
“In my blog I specifically reference data and trends that support my conclusions. And the numerous blog comments on yesterdays topic seems to support some of my conclusions.”
Lol “I’m right because a bunch of Boomers in the comment section told me so” is a hilarious conclusion to make. Some real scientific data and analysis right there. Real top notch research. *Slow clap*
#208 Millennial Realist on 03.12.23 at 12:49 pm
Boomers, you did not hit a triple.
You were born on third base.
Duhhhhhhhhhh……………………..
============================
Nudge Nudge
….. Wink Wink..
Well…somebody (likely a Boomer)had to get to “FIRST BASE” first for you to exist.
Excellent post Ryan. Couldn’t agree with you more… except the apologies for sounding like the grumpy old man. The grumpy old man is right. You nailed it. No need to apologize for being right. Firm and decisive wins the race… like investing.
European “Says Ryan: “We wouldn’t have clients for very long if we told them we shut down on Friday’s for some R&R.”
That only means that you’re not offering anything special. Like McDonald’s.
Proper restaurants are open way fewer hours/days, pay their staff better, and offer superior food.”
We’re not offering Big Macs or a plate of pasta. Not sure how that comparison is relevant. We’re offer services to our clients and arguably one of the most important services as we look after people’s hard earned savings. So again how many clients would remain with us if we worked part time with their life savings? – Ryan L
Dear Ryan, thank you for getting back to me. Your answer suggests that you have a limited understanding on how most people function. Many of them would actually be looking down on someone who is available to them 24/7/365. Even plumbers pretend being unavailable at times.
On another note, one must wonder what you’ve worked before becoming a financial advisor ten years ago. Work happens both actively as well as passively… Smart work, that is. For production line work one must be on site, that’s true. Smart work includes algorithms, strategies, sensors, etc.
PS. I notice you skipped replying to my other message, and acknowledging your fundamental blunder on rentals in Europe. Some analysis :)
“No one wants to work anymore.”
If this is true, was there a giant memo among employees that this was arbitrarily decided? Or is it not more probable that there’s been a wholesale shift in conditions to cause the masses to behave the way they are?
I’ve been working for my employer since 2008. In that time the stock price went from $8 to $52 before the pandemic. Every quarter we’d get emails from the executives bragging about record profits. The CEO made roughly $10 million per year. During that time, the amount of work my group was expected to do increased and our staffing levels and working conditions decreased. The pay scale didn’t even keep up with inflation, yet when our collective agreement came up for negotiation, the CEO went to the media telling them how we were overpaid… despite the fact that he earned roughly 200 times the average worker in the company. Imagine standing in a room of 200 employees and believing that one person produces more value than all of them combined. The government conveniently declared us essential workers and barred us from striking.
Then Covid hit and temporarily crippled the business. The company wasted no time in getting government help and laid off three quarters of their workforce. We were evidently no longer essential workers. My layoff notice didn’t even have my name on it – just a mass email in everyone’s inbox. Management received big bonuses for how hard they had to work during this period of losing massive piles of money. There was somehow enough cash for the company to get to the eleventh hour of buying one of their biggest competitors. Billions of dollars.
Now business has roared back, we’re understaffed, everyone is having to deal with lots of nonsense and we’re being told that a 2% pay increase is enough to keep up with inflation. The VP of my department told us that they’re having no trouble staffing our department if we don’t like the conditions. Except of course, “no one wants to work.”
I’d go looking elsewhere for a better gig, but haven’t found one. I speak three languages, have a technical diploma and a business degree. Have been working since I was 15 and financed my own education. And I’m one of the lucky ones: can afford my house, have minimal debt and a pretty good life outside of work. So I keep keeping on, but with much less dedication to my employer than I had 15 years ago.
#208 Millennial Realist on 03.12.23 at 12:49 pm
Boomers, you did not hit a triple.
You were born on third base.
Duhhhhhhhhhh……………………..
——————————————————————
And you are still on home plate.
#170 ‘Ronaldo’ – an excellent point. Presumably those living in the GTA/YVR live there because that is where family/work is. So the crazy high RE prices are a hurdle to home ownership, for sure. What I wonder is what #77 ‘Odif’s’ definition of ‘proper housing’ is. Owning a SFH seems to be a status symbol, a visible declaration of success more than it is deemed to be a place to live in. Obviously, the bigger & fancier the family abode is, the more one signals success. Thing is, plenty of folks own space they never use. They still have to pay for it though.
So in 1972 brand new 3 bedroom brick house 60’x195′ lot in Markham $58 000.00 sold Feb 2022 $2 490 000.00
Dad made $200.00 per week Mom stayed at home $10400.00 gross pay x 6 years =$62000.00
Today Dad would need $415 000.00 per year.
$200.00 per week in 1972 is $7980.00 per week today.
Just a hunch more people made $200.00 in 1972 than make $7980.00 in 2023 and there in lies the problem.
#218 Alois on 03.12.23 at 1:49 pm
#208 Millennial Realist on 03.12.23 at 12:49 pm
Boomers, you did not hit a triple.
You were born on third base.
Duhhhhhhhhhh……………………..
============================
Nudge Nudge
….. Wink Wink..
Well…somebody (likely a Boomer)had to get to “FIRST BASE” first for you to exist.
…
MR is likely the product of a turkey baster…..
#221 TalkingPie on 03.12.23 at 1:54 pm
“No one wants to work anymore.”
I’ve been working for my employer since 2008. In that time the stock price went from $8 to $52 before the pandemic. Every quarter we’d get emails from the executives bragging about record profits. The CEO made roughly $10 million per year.
=============================
COMMENT:
I have no idea why firms/sharholders allow such rape and pillage by the Executives with their ” bonuses” …except perhaps that signing some “rock star” CEO inflates the stock price.
A while back…I recall one alleged “rock star” CEO was recruited…and he cooked the books of his new firm via forcing his customers to beef up inventories of his companies products….giving the impression sales were “great” and of course he got his Million $$$ in bonus. His scam got found out and he was turfed.
More evidence is emerging that the recent Bank failure in US Hi Tech sector had millions in bonuses paid out just before the collapse. Are we talking inside information ?and/or shorting the stock ?
This is NOT the free market..it literally and figuratively fits the definition of COMMUNISM whereby the 1% create and rip – off the OTHER 99%.
Heads (and perhaps other body parts) need to roll..
@#208 Millenial strike out.
“Boomers, you did not hit a triple.
You were born on third base.”
+++
Nope,we hit home runs…. without even swinging…..
Ryan has blown past the 200 comment mark …..
The gauntlet has been thrown down for the other Turner weekend warriors….
Turner Investments is definitely not the place for me. No interest in working with boomers at dinosaur companies
Garth: If you don’t show up Friday, don’t bother coming in Monday.
Ryan: Woohoo … a four day weekend !!!!
#63 Sunshowers on 03.11.23 at 1:33 pm
Spot on right! Blog dogs be honest……hard work gets you nothing but an early grave. You all know it. There’s no reward at all. The real deal? Teach personal finance planning in schools at a young age and how to make your $$$ work for you. Just like most of you did. Young peeps have learned fast and see how it works. Do you blame them?
#221
Now business has roared back, we’re understaffed, everyone is having to deal with lots of nonsense and we’re being told that a 2% pay increase is enough to keep up with inflation. The VP of my department told us that they’re having no trouble staffing our department if we don’t like the conditions. Except of course, “no one wants to work.”
I’d go looking elsewhere for a better gig, but haven’t found one. I speak three languages, have a technical diploma and a business degree. Have been working since I was 15 and financed my own education. And I’m one of the lucky ones: can afford my house, have minimal debt and a pretty good life outside of work. So I keep keeping on, but with much less dedication to my employer than I had 15 years ago.
———
Sounds like a horrible employer. If I were in that position I would try to upgrade skills (if relevant) and be applying en-masse to find a new gig. There is no need to be loyal to an employer who has that attitude.
Ryan is not wrong about this trend and I’m a gen Xer.
No Sunday post, yet.
Still picking up the pieces?
This was brutal.
Completely out of left field.
#226 Alois on 03.12.23 at 3:32 pm
This is NOT the free market..it literally and figuratively fits the definition of COMMUNISM whereby the 1% create and rip – off the OTHER 99%.
——————————————-
Read on communism. You will see your mistake.
Free market is exactly that: CEO makes as much money as they can.
“Greed is good. Greed makes things work efficiently.”
Do not lump “strong work ethic” with having to work 12-14 hour days. I do not know your personal situation Ryan but there are many many hardworking people out there with a strong work ethic who have children and family to take care of. And often we have to always have to take the first train home to get home to our family. And most often these are the women’s responsibility which is something you could have thoughtfully considered since you are looking for an administrative assistant. We can’t deny that such a position is almost invariably filled by a woman. Will married/with family women be screened out in the application process? Single women need only apply? You were doing well enough addressing albeit in simplistic basic ideas ONE among many problems in our declining society but you had to finish with that paragraph. And shame you had to be prompted by one you tuber. Perhaps you wrote this piece at the end of a 14 hour day, perhaps harried after a very long day without an administrative assistant. What happened to the previous one?
#231 yvr_lurker on 03.12.23 at 4:19 pm
Sounds like a horrible employer. If I were in that position I would try to upgrade skills (if relevant) and be applying en-masse to find a new gig. There is no need to be loyal to an employer who has that attitude.
********
You’d think so, but I haven’t found anything better. I did my management degree while working in hopes of broadening my opportunities. That hasn’t really worked out. Currently working on getting my commercial pilot’s license with the intention of taking advantage of the shortage there. Plus, flying planes is pretty damn cool.
Ryan,
Many employees in professional services have figured out that those who work hard are over looked for those that speak the loudest and demand promotions each year. They are supported by managers to lean in on promotions. This creates a toxic environment where the shameless self promoters get ahead while those who truly deliver for their employer are given no recognition. COVID changed this and now employees understand that it doesn’t pay to work hard so they don’t. Why work hard when your peer who does the same job for the same pay can do a FT MBA while ‘working’ gets paid same as you? Your peer isn’t fired for and kept on for ‘diversity’ or whatever metric the corporate masters make up.
The corporations made their beds by disrespectful behaviour towards the employees that bake their profits and instead reward the ones that destroy or eat their profits.
With the labour shortage accelerating it’s time to embrase full pensions, 4 day work weeks and 6 week holidays if you want employees to work hard – pay them for their contributions.
I’m all for hard work, but caring about what train people take home is toxic. You should care about how effective your employees are, and what value they produce. Some people are effective time-boxers, can put in a consistent, solid day before disconnecting, and others might figure out that they don’t get anything done after 2pm, kick off early but have bursts of productivity when the kids are in bed.
Many cultures in the world use time-in-office as a proxy for productivity (e.g. 9-9-6) and it’s silly. It’s not more productive, and no one should be proud of neglecting their families for decades to produce nothing of value in the world. Unfortunately, Canada still has some of this culture left, as it is historically entrenched; my grandfather’s proudest achievement in life was that he didn’t miss a single day of work in his fifty years at CN rail. (I don’t think anyone should be proud of going to work sick, where you’re likely to spread illness and be mostly useless anyways.)
Please be better in advancing a culture where we value the product of work, not the effort. An employee that does more in less time is not a bad thing.
The perspective from the industry I am in (4th career and a Gen Xer) is very simple. Many of us Vets – I’m 10 yrs in now – in it have worked hard and smart investing time into our positions and many don’t feel appreciated at all. In fact those of us with good work ethics feel taken advantage of as we see the execs far outstrip us in earnings increases (percentage of wage or dollars earned) while being given the proverbial pat on the back saying “Good Job!” while being leaned on to “take up the slack” of those without the work ethic. Raises are given begrudgingly…during times of abundant bodies we have been made to feel we should be grateful, now it’s “well we can barely afford it…” and they wring their hands and pray the vets don’t jump ship. – At 50 I’m financially good – retirement more or less set – room for advancement of career is waning – good physical years left are limited as I watch my parents generation age and only about 50% make it to retirement entirely healthy to “enjoy ” retirement…Shall I give that work ethic fully to the career? or shall I place it somewhere where it matters…Like family and living life? Ryan – I too come from Ukrainian stock and have had that work ethic burned into me – but we really should place it in the places that matter… Balance is everything…. My Grandmother reminded me when I was younger that we get “Three Score and Maybe” on this planet and the words finally struck home in my 50th year. I am fortunate to have a loving and close knit family – I will always have the work ethic – I will place the effort where it really matters and still contribute to society and try my best to make our world a better place…and when execs wonder about that “Quiet Quitting” that is definitely happening – check the pay structure out… Oh and I reside proudly and squarely between you and Marissa… Thanks as always Garth (and Yes Ryan and the other guests as well!) for Greater Fool and the amazing advice and chiseled abs ;)
The problem is is that hard work isn’t rewarded anymore. I can put in 30 hours a week or 50 and still get the same pay. We had a record year for our company and division and only managed a measly 1.2% performance bonus. I’ll direct my work ethic towards myself and my family because that’s a hell of a lot more rewarding than any job I’ve had.
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