.

From my personal experience, few and far between...

Millennials are even worse.

Took me almost a year, but I did find a 21 year old that is willing to do it. They are few and far between. Went through a lot of people to find one, and a few were over 50 and didn't want to work.....

Should I count my blessings that all the guys working for me are bitchy, but at least most of them show up?

Our parents coplained about our generation too. The ones that grew up during the Great Depression had no use for us.

Truth is, you have to learn to work. Harder to learn a work ethic growing up in an apartment. No yardwork to do, no animals to care for.

Raise the minimum wage to the point where the beginner jobs get automated, and kids won't have a chance to learn a work ethic.

All three of my boys are and do, but I recognize that this is a vanishing virtue.

far and few between is an understatement,
not just men either,the wife has a deli and she has a terrible time with employees also.Sad times,I can only imagine what it will be like in 10 yrs.

My daughter was a top prep swimmer, and worked through high school and college giving swimming lessons and was the assitant manager at the local community pool. That was valuable work experience on both ends. She had to work "for" somebody else, but also had to manage her lesson schedule as her own "business:.

My son is 14 and is a top baseball and tennis player. He has his first job lined up helping to coach younger kids baseball at summer camp.

Using talent doing something they like to make some bucks.

The winter before I started college I went to baseball umpiring school. It's not quite as easy as I thought. I got a whole knew "education" on baseball, AND handling people. My best summer jobs after that were umpiring.

Kids will still work, but they have to learn how. Someone needs to teach them.

I just don't understand how anyone has a problem showing up clean and sober everyday. There are a bunch out there that can't don it.

We start at 6 AM where I work and the majority of our employees are well under 50. A couple of our best/most ambitious/most dependable are in their early 20's.

I am a former United States Air Force Recruiter, served in the late 1970's and have sorta kept up with the business since. I noted a recent study by the DOD that concluded 70% or more of people 17-28 years of age today are not qualified to enlist in the Armed Forces.

Too fat and out of shape from a lifetime of lying on the couch playing video games. No high school diploma. Too many run-ins with the law. Cant pass the drug test. Cant pass the written exam. Cant pass the physical strength and agility test. Cant pass the psych exam.

Pretty sad state of affairs. If you own a business, would you want to hire someone who couldn't make it into the Armed Forces? Probably not.

My son and daughter, 36 and 35 YO both work full time. Son has his own business, and employs 5-6 people part time. He has found some pretty decent people after firing a few. Interesting is that the better ones are 25-35 YO women that are supporting a kid or two and a boyfriend.

My 22 year old son does. Does turf and landscaping. Worked at La Cantera in San Antonio one summer and was generally at work by 4:30, earlier if there was a tournament. Works in Houston now and I think they start at 6 a.m. Now son #2 is a whole other story!

I got laid off from a job that was 99% office and driving and will be going back in the field at the age of the 47 as a plumbing and heating installer. I'm willing, I just hope the body is. Losing weight via being in an active job role again will help with the physical part.

I have 3 sons ages 26, 29, and 34. One does concrete work, one works for the railroad, and one rough frames houses. They all work 40+ hours a week in relatively physically demanding jobs. There are some young folks who still poses a good work ethic.

Still working at 72. Self employed boat builder.

Ask a 15-22 year old when was the last time they showed initiative.

Most that I interview don't know what that word means.

There are still some hard workers out there at any age, but they are less and less of a percentage of the population.

really sharp, hard working folks have always been somewhat of a minority. Just the way life is, normally they go on to have some modicum of success.

but granted work ethic was a lot stronger in the greatest generation.

they largely grew up poor, had to work to contribute to their family's well being.

then they went off to WWII, came home and hard work and discipline were a snap to them.

having chores is one of the best thing for young people.

we never gave an allowance to our children for working around the house or doing their chores.

if they worked in our businesses or rental properties, they got paid for their work.

course it was pretty nice when they were young having the chance to let them know "we're going to get this work done on this property and I normally pay you $8 per hour, (hey it was 10-12 years ago), but if you're going to mope around and move in slow motion I'm going to pay you $4 per hour and the work is still going to get done, just take longer.

It's to my immense pleasure I can have the boys help me out in one of our businesses these days now that they're 17 & 22, pay them $20-25 per hour and know I'm still getting a good value, well on the older one anyway. The baby, sheesh he still has some stuff to learn.

My son is under 50 and hard working. All his kids are hard working.
All my Grandkids old enough are working and either have or are are planning advanced degrees.
They were raised that if the wanted something they had to earn it, same as I was.

There sure a lot of great 20 somethings around here. I don't know hardly any that don't work well. Most were/are hireable straight out of high school. No problem getting hard workers here.

I do.

Seems Gen X has taken quite a bit in the ass

I am!... although sometimes I never go to sleep and still have to plow through another work day.
Things are not free

I"m over 50 and getting to the point I don't want to work all the hours anymore .......... LOL. At least not as much as we used to.

I'm 43 and been working full time since I was 22. Played music on the road for 3 years after high school, it sucked.

My son is 17 and takes every job he can get his hands on. He has a 99 silverado that he is building and he knows I'm not funding every little thing he wants. He worked all summer last year and bought a set of torque thrust STs for it. I'm proud of him. It took a few ass bustings when he was younger but he turned out really good. Except he leaves stuff laying around and it drives me nuts. I stay on his ass all the time about getting his stuff up. I shouldn't be so hard on him, at least he isn't lazy, doesn't do drugs and isn't a cock suckered. I suppose these days a man should count himself as lucky with a kid like that!

I have had many helpers at my old job that were the most usless SOBs ever. Mostly a bunch of younger guys and a couple of not so young guys. My last helper was thirty flippin seven and I had to teach that bastard to read a tape measure! Worthless and stupid all rolled into one. He had a ebt card, but of course he vaped and was always spending money on mods and different flavors, a real flippin dip $hit.. I told him he was a drain on society and that any grown ass man that couldn't fend for himself was a leach. He hated my ass, no love lost...

i'm 54. wheres my free schit? fuggen working sucks.

Going on sixty eight,what do you have?

One of the things I see is the pay, if you pay peanuts you get monkeys, and paying peanuts is not always a bad thing, but after two weeks if a guy shows up clean and on time, give him a buck an hour raise, it shows you care that he cares and then the future is in both of your hands, the cost of "stuff" has gone up, give a little and see what you get back.

My Kid will be 24 this December, I guess that makes him a millennial.
He learned the rewards of hard work and mental toughness at a very young age.

He is finishing up his fire academy and recently had to perform a physical fitness exam where they hiked up a "mountain" with a 40 lb pack on his back.....he lapped everyone including the instructors that had nothing on their backs.
They were impressed....yeah, that's my boy...

There are plenty of hard working Gen X and millenials.

I'm not one of them, but they're certainly abundant.




Travis

I thought you only needed to be Gay to join up Now..........

i guess i'd be a millennial, I'm 32 years old, Im a journeymen wiremen, and journeymen nuclear structural welder, I haven't made less than 80K since i was 23yrs old. I know lots of guys my age that said fugg college and went into the trades, were all ass austin' dudes that have big houses and nice trucks, hot wives and no college bills ;-)

It's not just under 50. I have a 58 year old that couldn't show up for work on time if you held a gun to her head.

My son is 23, Full time college student. Full time farmer. Still has time to hang out with his buddies. No student loans, and only limited help from me.

Daughter is 22 and graduating with excellent grades next month. Does what needs to get done, and not a lick more.... Sucks heavily on Momma's and the student loan teats...

My farm manager is 33, and works for me full time, plus runs the family cattle spread. I have to keep reigning him in and tell him 90 hrs per week is too much for a family man. He still thinks he's invincible.

I have a 26 year old "kid" driving for me that would do 80 hrs a week if he could squeeze it in his log book.

I think we'll be fine.

Bernie Sander will change the requirements so all you have listed will qualify

i pay all my help good, they all start out more than minimum wage, start most at 12 and my installers make at least 15 a hr. but still i have to wake them up everyday and make sure they get to work, like waking kids up to go school. the problem i have is once i find a good one and teach them, they go out on their own. so i'm stuck with ones who actually do good work but have no motivation except to make just enough to get by.

Much of the problem comes from where and how kids are raised! I also believe that it also depends a lot on the state they're 'jerked up' in! Kids that grow up on farms and ranches....know the deal! Those raised on concrete and asphalt....most don't have a clue!!

My kid was raised in California.
He's a stereotype crusher, much like his old man...

Not sure why there are so many generalizations, seems so negative. I'm 43 years old, hire quite a few independent contractors much younger than I for my company. People will always be people, but I'd rather be positive than being the negative a-hole.

Teach them something rather than ripping on them and they might actually make a difference.

We hire alot of college grads and most of them work out pretty well. However we focus our college recruiting on college athletes (smaller colleges) and male or female, they typically know how to work hard, manage their time, and what it means to be part of team.

So I'd say from my sample size we're in good hands.

I'm 45 (soon to be 46). I went to work full time the day after high school graduation. Prior to that I worked part/full time for a farmer who had to pick me up everyday after football practice because I couldn't drive yet. April 3rd marked 23 years with the company I went to work for just before my 23rd birthday.

Our oldest daughter worked full time while putting herself through college and paid rent for an apt. while doing so. She will be 23 on Wednesday.

Our soon to be 21 yo daughter works part time and lives at home while putting herself through college.

Our 18 year old son works full/part time for a farmer while not in school. He will be going to Diesel mechanics in the fall while working at a JD Dealership and farming.

Our 17 year old son works part time for a farmer and picks up odd jobs here and there. He is more interested in his final season of football than anything else right now. Hitting the weights pretty hard.

So yes people under 50 are willing to get up and go to work, at least in this region of the country.

I have seen a lot of Gen Y kids come through our company that can't make it to work on time or they just keep moving from job to job looking for that elusive one where the rules are slack and the pay is good however.

My dad is 68(?) and is a true workaholic. Had to scratch like hell through the 1980-90's to make land payments/operating notes, etc..

Still 'pluggin along' as he calls it.


I couldn't handle it and moved away for about 10-12 years but came back 5 years ago. Since then he and my mom have been able to go on a few short trips together and that means more to me than anything.


But when he dies or gets too old to work we'll have to have a change of pace/plans.

I am not cut from the same cloth and don't want to work my life away.


Last full day off was November 20th.


We could really use another guy but anyone worth a chit has good job already.

This thread hits on something dear to me.

When I was 19 I went to Alaska to fish and work. I had a good boss that hired lots of young guys and knew how to handle them. He brought out the good in guys that didn't even know who they were yet. When I returned to the lower 48, I worked for the greatest man I've ever known. A true giant. When you work under giants they impact you, in my case for life.

So much of what's wrong with the workforce today is the lack of principled leaders that stand for something greater than themselves. Values, treating people well, right vs. wrong, putting customers over yourself, working beyond your stamina and ability, laying it all on the line for what's right.

Even as I write this I have to decide how to bill a customer for my workers hours, and what's a fair rate for their production. I find myself thinking most of what's fair and right, vs. what I could justify for the sake of maximum profit. Not to toot my horn, only to say that if the world had more leadership focused on the greater good rather than individual benefit, I believe most workers would respond with stellar production.

I believe leadership that is irresistibly focused on something bigger than "work" will bring out the best and most from workers. If someone suffers from lackluster workers, I'd bet it's from a lack of leadership.

I am glad you drew the line at 50 Roger.

I'm seeing quite a few good-hardworking-young people. The problem is they are in such demand that they quickly move on when the grass is greener elsewhere and I don't blame them. How could you blame somebody for bettering themselves?

I do hear quite a few employers complain about how hard it is to keep good help and how the help that does stay sucks. The simple answer is; pay more to the good ones. There are employers that are a training ground and there employers that offer a life-long career.

Here is a story I just read today in the New York Daily News about work habits of millennials:



Want to get work done? Don't hire a millennial, business owner says
BY MICHAEL LEVIN DAILY NEWS CONTRIBUTOR Monday, April 11, 2016, 6:50 PM A A A
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Millennials want to have jobs, one employer says — they just don't want to work.
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Millennials want to have jobs, one employer says — they just don't want to work.
As God is my witness, I will never hire a millennial again as long as I live.

Much has been made of the so-called millennial work ethic.

I'm convinced these people want to have jobs — they just don't want to work.

Admittedly, they have a healthier attitude toward work than my generation.

They fit work into their lives instead of scrambling to fit their lives around work, as do people my age.

The problem is that when they actually get to the office, nothing happens.

I've been through four different admins in the past year and a half, and each was worse than the previous one.

It's hard to tell if they can't do the work or if they just simply don't want to.

A look at the literature suggests that there are many reasons why millennials are so diffident about their role in the workplace.

Most struggle with large amounts of student debt.

Maybe they figure that there's so little hope of reducing that debt, based on their entry-level salaries, that they give up before they start.

The whole point of an entry-level salary is that if you stick around, the salary moves up as your responsibilities grow.

As the expression goes, your raise becomes effective the moment you do.

Last month, I hired a twenty-something admin with great credentials and outstanding references.

Two weeks later, I had to send her an email pointing out the sloppiness and inattentiveness in her work product and requesting a better level of effort.

I'm not talking about anything insane — just getting phone numbers and time zones correct. "Easy button" kind of stuff.

That very same day, she sent me an email reminding me that she had a bachelorette trip to Florida in three weeks that would cause her to miss three days of work.

Who takes vacations two months after they start the job?

Who has the tin ear to put in a vacation request the same day the boss sends you an email about sloppiness?

Millennials, that's who.

People who study these matters suggest that millennials grew up in a culture where everyone was made to feel special.

You didn't have to put forth an effort to win a ribbon or even a trophy.

Just showing up was good enough.

What a terrible lesson to teach young people.

I don't mean that adults should pace Patton-like in front of small children and inform them that the world doesn't owe them a living.

And yet, the world owes no one a living.

My soon-to-be former admin ignored being fired and prepared to come to work the following Monday, George Costanza-like.

So I had to fire her a second time.

This time, she finally understood that I meant business, and that she was out of the business.

She responded with a plaintive email reminding me that without her job, she no longer had a source of income. Did I have any ideas about how else she could make money?

Then she asked if she could list her position with my company on her resume and use me as a reference.

You cannot make this stuff up.

Last time I checked, jobs that pay more than $50,000 a year as a starting salary and include health insurance aren't that thick on the ground.

Ironically, she had been my second choice candidate for the job.

My first choice was a woman with an even more stellar track record.

Unfortunately, when I performed a cursory Google search of her name, I found photos of her on websites like sexilicious.com — you can look it up — where she expressed the fact that her greatest desire in life was to become a plus-size model.

I have no problem with the fact that she wants to be a plus-size model.

Everybody has dreams.

I don't have a problem with her being a plus size.

I struggle with my weight, too.

I do have an issue with the fact that my clients could Google her and find the same compromising photos I did.

They would also see the terrible grammar with which she described her plus-sized dreams.

The final straw came yesterday, when my millennial bookkeeper announced in an email that she was leaving "effective immediately" and would have nothing further to do with my company. She wouldn't even share passwords with her successor.

I'm sorry, millennials. You're all special. You're all smart.

And you're all fired.

Call it age discrimination. Call it self-preservation. Call it whatever you want.

But if you're under 30, the unemployment office is two doors down.

Michael Levin, a 12-time bestselling author, runs BusinessGhost.com, a provider of ghostwriting and publishing services.

Dad was a member of our Greatest Generation and always instilled in me a strong work ethic. If start time's 7:00, you be there at 6:45. Be the first one on the job, the last one to leave, and give your employer 100% every day. My kids work hard, and their bosses are glad to have them. My daughter works 4 jobs on some days, three on many, and two virtually every day. Kids learn work ethic by what they see going on around them, and it's often hard to make the lasting impression be what they see from their parents. So many split families these days, so many lost opportunities to make things work for the greater good. When that's what they see, the work ethic definitely suffers. They see their friends slacking off and get the miss guided impression that that's okay. Good parenting doesn't stop at 18, or 21, or even 40-it's a lifelong job.

Around here there are few if any millennials doing labor, but there are people under 50 doing quality physical work. They are all Mexicans or what is termed "Other Than Mexican", by immigration officials. We contract with various services for our property maintenance and construction, in every case the crews show up are predominately of Latin-American descent. These contractors aren't hiring illegal aliens, rather they are using long term employees that are legally in the country. This is true across the skilled trades: plumbers, roofers, heating and air conditioning, concrete, painters, carpentry, windows, appliance repair, tree removal, planting and landscaping, and extends into automobile repair, body and paint, and upholstery. We have had great results from Diamond Certified contractors, and been impressed with the industriousness of their crews.

When I was working as a supervisor, my best summer help employees were similarly Latinos, while the white college students were, well - largely just bodies good for working the garbage and restroom details, and standing in the gatehouse selling tickets - if they could be taught to make change. Sad, really.

Even the Honor Camp inmate crews were more helpful and hard working than some of the permanent staff. Then they were enjoying work to offset the boredom of being in jail. Some even learned skills that lead to paying jobs on the outside after release. One young Latino I taught to assemble PVC pipelines really enjoyed it, he did a great job. He told me it was the first useful thing he did in his life. He returned a year later to reveal that he landed a job at a major landscape contractor, and subsequently was promoted to a foreman.

So there are people under 50 willing to work, and not just Latinos. We did find many hard working white and black kids that went on to be promoted and make a career, but like everything else, the pyramid is widest at the bottom.

I am going to step up and speak about my son.

He was a straight A student in H.S. and now is a straight A student in college. He works his ass off.

He has a part-time job at Tractor Supply moving and unloading pallets of feed.

He volunteers at a local hospital, which he has been doing since H.S.

He hunts about every weekend (turkey's now) and never misses a day of volunteering, school or work.

He drags his tired ass out of bed every Sunday morning to go to 8:30 service at our church.

He is majoring in genetics and plans to go to medical school to concentrate on hematology/oncology.

Our future is secure; that's what his ENT doctor wrote in a letter to him when he attended my son's Eagle Scout ceremony. His ENT is also an Eagle.

I have a son, a wife, two daughters, and two son-in-laws who do it...but I get your point. It is becoming a rarity.

I'm seeing a shortage in rocket scientist in our countries future.

Any of you thinking about having kids later in life?

Pretty similar path for me too. I'm a few months from turning 34, got into the apprenticeship at a local shipyard and became a journeyman fabricator and welder. Eventually made it up the ranks and now oversee a group of guys that do the structural planning for the yard.

Two of the guys working with me are in their mid 20's and show up everyday plus overtime. One of those two is a fine young black man with a wife, child, and what seems to be a well put-together life plan. I would take several more of him in a heartbeat.

I understand that this is not the rule though, but the exception.

It's funny, I do know a fair amount of millennials who are generally speaking worthless (ie my two brother-in-laws who are 25 yrs old living in mommy & daddy's basement) but in my professional career I've met a fair amount of experienced/seasoned guys in the 40+ age range that are pretty worthless as well.

I'd be willing to bet that my generation will be bitching about the generations to follow too....

The list of folks that I know that are under 50 and bust their ass daily at a whole host of jobs would take a damned long time to rattle off.

Of course, that wouldn't do anything here - facts very rarely matter on 24HCF.

Spot on. The land of simpleton generalizations.

The young GC and his assistant doing our roof sure are busting their asses.

He can't be over 25. He came recommended, and has done my Dad's roof as well.

Since he started the job, there hasn't been a single working day that hasn't either rained, or had wind gusts in excess of 20, or both - and that wind sure ain't helping metal roofing installation.

But they are almost done, and it isn't leaking.

Good kid.

I've worked in various positions for the same employer for over 35 years. All of our jobs pay well with good benefits. When I look around me, I see a pretty even mix of ages for the hardest working employees and the not so much. My immediate supervisor is in his early thirties. He works his butt off every day.

Where I see the lack of drive is mostly in what we all used to see as entry level jobs paying minimum wage or close to it - with little or no benefits. It has always been that way, for as long as I can remember.

This is a big part of the problem. If I was this managers superior, he/she would be chit canned.

You don't manage people over email period! Millennials especially, need face to face interaction and coaching if you want them to even have a chance to succeed.

Millennials have their issues but coward managers like the one depicted in this article are worse IMO.

I agree. Email and social media should never be used for correction or other negative personal communication. For some reason, it seems that a lot of managers think that's okay to do. And those aren't just younger managers.

Not making accusations against anyone in particular, but I have seen a long pattern of managers/owners blaming their problems on the workforce - when their own house is not in order. Then - usually - the real leaders manage to find a good team. It's always been a difficult thing.

Wonder sometimes if half the people on here work...