Some bosses can't get their money's worth out of their employees no matter how little they pay them.
"New York employers have discovered that they can no longer expect even rudimentary business etiquette from workers," reports Heather Mac Donald of the Manhattan Institute. "Employment, say some disgruntled managers, is becoming more and more like babysitting."
Writing in the current issue of the Institute's quarterly publication, City Journal, Mac Donald laments that Manhattan is plagued by a "dearth of good entry-level workers." She notes that "the same complaints surface again and again: entry-level employees are defensive and inflexible, chronically late and absent; they dress inappropriately and treat supervisors, co-workers, and customers with disdain; they can't speak or write properly and lack basic analytic skills."
Bad attitude is the biggest problem. "New employees almost invariably arrive with an entitlement mentality," says Mac Donald. "While this is by no means unique to New York, companies that have picked up and moved elsewhere say that workers [in New York] possess a particularly aggravated case of inflated expectations." Their productivity lags behind their self-esteem, however. They seem to think that, if they did things right the first time, they might not have full-time jobs. The inevitable result of this excess of incompetence is frequent turnover and "escalating hiring costs. Finding competent workers," Mac Donald explains, "means sifting through ever more applicants -- an expensive process."
Mac Donald says "employers connect the behavior they see on the job with what happens in New York City's classrooms. If the schools tolerate truancy, poor manners, and mediocre performance, they argue, what can you expect at work?" She charges that "the Board of Education, a key factor in ensuring competent employees, has yet to confront the dire shortcomings of the workers-to-be whom it graduates. Instead, the public schools have rushed to embrace the dubious methods of 'school-to-work' instruction, the latest trend in progressive pedagogy and a woefully inadequate bridge to the world of employment."
Mac Donald predicts a dim future for the Big Apple if it fails to reverse the decline of its workforce. "Throughout New York's history," she observes, "a talented and energetic labor force has been one of the city's premier assets. Workers flocked to New York from the provinces and from abroad looking for an opportunity to make the most of their talents, and companies flourished [in the city] because they could find employees equal to almost any task. Today this is no longer the case," says Mac Donald. "New York's labor force is a liability in important respects rather than an asset."
New York appears to be reaping the harvest of high self-esteem. Whatever happened to paying your dues, starting from scratch, working your way up from the bottom, and all those other quaint but time-tested approaches to ultimate success? It used to be understood that anyone could make it in America -- if they were determined, and not too proud. That's still true, but some kids aren't getting the message.
