THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, November 7, 1995 TAG: 9511070256
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DIANE STAFFORD, KANSAS CITY STAR
DATELINE: KANSAS CITY, MO. LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
Vince Totta doesn't mind being the Statue of Liberty of the work world. You know . . . Give me your young, your untrained, your tangles of teenage hormones yearning to make a buck. . . .
When first-time job seekers come to his fast-food V's Pasta Parlor and Tijuana restaurants, Totta doesn't mind helping propel Kansas City's ``hamburger flipper'' economy.
But he does mind the disturbing lack of work ethic he's seeing in today's youngest workers.
``I'd like to find a nice, delicate way to say it,'' Totta says, ``but a lot of kids nowadays don't know the first thing about what's needed to hold a job. They don't have good personal hygiene. They don't know what being mannerly is. They don't know how to present themselves well. They don't understand the need to be on time. They don't know how to get along with co-workers or take constructive criticism.''
Yikes. Steel yourself: It gets worse.
``We are forced to hire people now that we wouldn't have even considered five years ago. And, sometimes after we hire them, they don't even show up. Or they show up for a couple of days and then the next day they don't feel like working so they don't come in and they don't even call you. Or you tell them that rules prevent them from smoking and they say, `OK. I quit.' ''
Totta, who grew up helping his family at their V's restaurant, is one of many employers decrying a demise of the work ethic among entry-level job seekers.
A Census Bureau survey of 3,000 U.S. employers recently asked what factors they considered most important in hiring workers. Attitude and communications skills ranked first and second.
The Missouri Chamber of Commerce heard back from 178 companies on a survey asking what work preparation employers expected from the educational system. The top answer: ``Work ethic.''
A business and education alliance in Springfield, Mo., polled businesses about what skills they wanted from high school graduates. The 275 respondents called for integrity, responsibility, listening skills, and the ability to work effectively with customers and be a team member.
The perceived lack of work ethic and work skills among the young has sent government, business organizations and schools into a hand-wringing frenzy.
Should we raise the minimum wage to make entry jobs more appealing? Should we ride herd on public education to add workplace skills to the ABCs? Should employers invest more time and money in training?
The answer to all those questions may well be yes. But more than one of every four Missouri high school freshmen will not graduate. If they're not in school, how can we presume to expect the education system to make them model-worker material?
The onus, Totta asserts, is on the families of these would-be workers.
That's certainly not a radical conclusion.
Just for the record, here it is again: Parents are responsible for teaching and, even more important, for acting out the correct behaviors for their children. No government program, no business association, no well-meaning entrepreneur should be expected to instill a work ethic that parents did not. ILLUSTRATION: JANET SHAUGHNESSY
The Virginian-Pilot
by CNB