Are The Young Thais Lazy?

[Dante99]

I just ask this to find out if there are more owners with similar experiments so I know what I have to look for.

experiments??? Trying to sigh up guinea pigs?

Or is it possible that the people you are interviewing have better English than yours and find that to be a problem?

[market trader]

I just ask this to find out if there are more owners with similar experiments so I know what I have to look for.

experiments??? Trying to sigh up guinea pigs?

Or is it possible that the people you are interviewing have better English than yours and find that to be a problem?

Score is now 2 for low blows.

[eyecatcher]

If Thais or better young Thais are lazy was a simple question, I don't want to insult anybody no matter what nationality. I just ask this to find out if there are more owners with similar experiments so I know what I have to look for. I owned a company for over 10 years with 14 peoples but this was never happen to me.

Thanks stigvinck for the tip!

A pretty Thai girl in CM that can speak good English and has a driving license will be expecting a wage of 20k+ a month. If you are expecting them to have a degree as well add another 5k a month.

If you pay less, or expect long hours, you won't find anyone that will stick at the job longer than a week.

I don't think the Thais are lazy, I suspect you want too much for not enough.

big big difference between expecting and what is offered.

I think at a stretch you can expect lets say for example a pretty hotel receptionist in a 4 star hotel, degree in English a pre requisite in Phuket to get circa 15-20k in high season with service charge comissions, but same girl in same hotel in Chiang Mai, maybe 12k tops.

not sure who you know on 25/30k; we are talking the level of bank managers/lawyers/teachers with oodles of experience.

However that being said I hope to God my beautiful,fluent English speaking,28 days a month, 14hrs a day, reception manager, and bed partner doesnt see this post or i will have to raise her into double figures!

[eyecatcher]

I just ask this to find out if there are more owners with similar experiments so I know what I have to look for.

experiments??? Trying to sigh up guinea pigs?

Or is it possible that the people you are interviewing have better English than yours and find that to be a problem?

its so funny when we pull people up for spelling and then in our excitement completely do the same same chai mai?

[Rancid]

Sales staff can be problematic if not in an a/c shop. Not sure if you are hunting customers or just wanting someone to answer a phone. If hunting then being on a bike half the day is one sure way to get dark skin, so that won't be popular. Another issue is if they have to deal with so-called Hi-So, that can also be problematic for those that aren't quite as high.

Had a sales related biz years ago, had one couple that just tracked down listings, then another girl that sold them. She over time became very good, did English classes to help. All were paid a base salary and the finders got a percent on anything they found sold. The seller got a better commision, she also found a few herslf, but mainly flogged what was on the books. If only I could have found another like her, a real gem, went through lots and lots of staff. Treat them well, don't abuse them and the ones that like the work will stay.

If commission related not that many are good at it, you will need to be patient to find the right ones, and when you do keep them happy.

[bino]

What does this have to do with CM?

I find your title offensive, I find you arrogant and offensive.

If the job is so great do it yourself. Unless you are paying 30k+ a month then don't be bragging how much you pay and how great of a job it is.

You want someone to be fluent in English and have all these skills that you don't posess in yourself and I assume that you are paying them 1/10th of what you would like to earn and expect them to jump up and down in praise of your imperialistic generosity.

There are lazy people here as anywhere. I get so tired of these stupid generalizations.

If you want qualified and diligent workers, you need to take time to find them. As any boss would know finding a good workforce anywhere is a challenge.

Why not blame yourself for not screening during the interview process.

A bad craftsman blames the tools.

exactly.

I concur.

btw, cmweb, who built your real estate listings site? im guessing you paid some indian $100...

Nope - a completely unmodified free theme from the providers of the free / open source classifieds script.

[Dean1953]

Does it have to be a female that you are trying to hire?

[ARISTIDE]

I've worked with many young Thai boys and girls from Rajabhat University or Rajamangala University in Chiang Mai and they were very responsible and hard work. Perhaps you need to be more specific about your ads.

[brit1984]

The issue may be to do with the split between base salary and bonus, which can be a tricky balance to perfect, especially as workers (everywhere) prefer a dollar of salary over a dollar of bonus (net of tax obviously). From my experience, workers in Thailand are even more focused on the base, and place less value on the bonus, than back home (UK for me).

Bonuses are generally only effective if the workers comprehend the likely payoff for a given amount of effort, which only comes from experience working in the job or a similar job. It may well be that the workers the OP hired lack this experience (and therefore lack an understanding of the returns to effort equation).

It might be better to offer a good fixed salary to start with and later add some sort of bonus element, once they have worked with you long enough to understand what that will realistically equate to. At this point you should also know what incentive structure will work best for them as an individual.

I also think young Thai people are not lazy by nature, although it seems many have developed a poor work ethic. In my opinion, this is more often a result of being mis-managed or inadequately remunerated, rather than lazy genes.

Sent from iPhone; please forgive any typos or violations of forum rules

[elektrified]

If Thais or better young Thais are lazy was a simple question, I don't want to insult anybody no matter what nationality. I just ask this to find out if there are more owners with similar experiments so I know what I have to look for. I owned a company for over 10 years with 14 peoples but this was never happen to me.

Thanks stigvinck for the tip!

A pretty Thai girl in CM that can speak good English and has a driving license will be expecting a wage of 20k+ a month. If you are expecting them to have a degree as well add another 5k a month.

If you pay less, or expect long hours, you won't find anyone that will stick at the job longer than a week.

I don't think the Thais are lazy, I suspect you want too much for not enough.

big big difference between expecting and what is offered.

I think at a stretch you can expect lets say for example a pretty hotel receptionist in a 4 star hotel, degree in English a pre requisite in Phuket to get circa 15-20k in high season with service charge comissions, but same girl in same hotel in Chiang Mai, maybe 12k tops.

not sure who you know on 25/30k; we are talking the level of bank managers/lawyers/teachers with oodles of experience.

However that being said I hope to God my beautiful,fluent English speaking,28 days a month, 14hrs a day, reception manager, and bed partner doesnt see this post or i will have to raise her into double figures!

LOL I assure you that 25-30K pm is "chump change" for a lawyer. I rent from a lawyer and he is fabulously wealthy. He spends more than 30K a month on weekend golf trips.

[hellodolly]

I have a friend with three different outlets. He has been in business here in Thailand for over 5 years that I know of. I was talking to him one day about staff and he said basically they had to be trained and you will go through a lot of them to find good ones.

Just my opinion but I think it is kind of a cultural thing. Thai's work together and at the same time try to socialize. I know that is the wrong thing to do where I come from. But it has been that way with them for centuries.

[Gaccha]

If Thais or better young Thais are lazy was a simple question, I don't want to insult anybody no matter what nationality. I just ask this to find out if there are more owners with similar experiments so I know what I have to look for. I owned a company for over 10 years with 14 peoples but this was never happen to me.

Thanks stigvinck for the tip!

A pretty Thai girl in CM that can speak good English and has a driving license will be expecting a wage of 20k+ a month. If you are expecting them to have a degree as well add another 5k a month.

If you pay less, or expect long hours, you won't find anyone that will stick at the job longer than a week.

I don't think the Thais are lazy, I suspect you want too much for not enough.

big big difference between expecting and what is offered.

I think at a stretch you can expect lets say for example a pretty hotel receptionist in a 4 star hotel, degree in English a pre requisite in Phuket to get circa 15-20k in high season with service charge comissions, but same girl in same hotel in Chiang Mai, maybe 12k tops.

not sure who you know on 25/30k; we are talking the level of bank managers/lawyers/teachers with oodles of experience.

However that being said I hope to God my beautiful,fluent English speaking,28 days a month, 14hrs a day, reception manager, and bed partner doesnt see this post or i will have to raise her into double figures!

LOL I assure you that 25-30K pm is "chump change" for a lawyer. I rent from a lawyer and he is fabulously wealthy. He spends more than 30K a month on weekend golf trips.

You would think so.... But *astonishingly* a friend at Baker & Mackenzie 3 years PQ was on 50k a month.... I make that 1/12 of the salary of his brethren in London.

[CMX]

I cannot think that anyone anywhere is qualified to judge Thai youngsters as being anything. Except young and Thai. Thereafter, we're just gossiping about limited observations and minimal (compared to the wealth of Thailand's young people) personal experience.

One question I might ask is related to best hiring practices: CMweb (OP), are you putting great effort and time into the interview process? Just stating requirements, rather than discussing them with a back and forth, might end in misunderstandings, for example. A truly inquiring interview might save you tons of effort in the end (or I might be wrong in my guess? - just a thought). G'luck,

[HaleySabai]

gone through two staffers and you are at your witt's end?....geeze, buddy,where do you think you live, in a colonial bygone era??

Young people the world over,for the most part, are deficient in work ethic,weak in skill-sets and are owned & operated by digital toys. They live in a consumer bubble where their home is a factory and they ARE the product.

Keep looking and you will eventually find the right person for the job.

[jonwilly]

If brought up on a farm growing rice, defiantly not lazy.

Town born and raised some are and some arn't.

john

[kurnell]

Over the last 5 years I have hired approx 30 nannies ti take care of my kids and only 2 have stayed for more than a year. Most lasted less than a week and one was with us for only 4 hours. Ages ranged from 18-45.

I have also tried to hire admin staff for my office (international company), we offer above market salary, excellent conditions (no weekend work) and 80% of the people we have hired have lasted less than 3 months, the majority being really flaky and leaving after a few days and one lasted 4 hours telling me that she is used to an environment where the work is a lot harder.

Having spoken to other people in the same position as me over the last 10 years here, they have had the same problems.

[CMweb]

The classifiedschaingmai.com is not my business site

I didn’t want to post numbers, but as there are so many guys who ask for …

We pay 25% more fix salary than the market plus petrol money, plus between 1000 THB – 100000 THB and sometimes also more for one contract, and this all for a 5 – 7 hour day and most days are on demand, so there is allot of free time.

[BillyBobThai]

I am 61 yr old, and from what I have seen, most young people are lazy. My first job was age 11, delivering papers and pumping gas. They think the world owes them a living. Occupy mom's house.

Edited July 28, 2012 by BillyBobThai

[cmsally]

At least its not like the UK where they can sue you for unfair dismissal or slipping on a banana skin!

[bluweyze]

I employ 43 Thai, young and middle aged. As a generalisation I have found them good workers. To categorise a whole nation from 2 examples is obnoxious. Finding good employees takes effort in any country. The culture of 'jumping on the back' of Thais, makes me wonder why some people are in their country.

[LemanRus]

In defense of the young, Thai or Martian. I find young people have more energy and enthusiasm then auld fellas like me. They haven't learnt how to disguise their inner feelings which makes them a blank slate for me to write on, but with respect.

[brit1984]

The classifiedschaingmai.com is not my business site

I didn’t want to post numbers, but as there are so many guys who ask for …

We pay 25% more fix salary than the market plus petrol money, plus between 1000 THB – 100000 THB and sometimes also more for one contract, and this all for a 5 – 7 hour day and most days are on demand, so there is allot of free time.

What is the fixed salary range?

[chrisinchaam]

I have 200+ employees and yes a majority have a poor work ethic with the new minimum pay owners are expecting more productivity but the young want to socialize if they can't talk on their phone have lots of free time on the internet they aren't happy. Maybe we have spoiled them as parents unfortunately the young don't want a career they want to enjoy themselves. I have to cut staff numbers to 180 by the end of the year but I don't think the remaining staff will improve productivity so I guess service will suffer.

[Oww]

Since this is the CM forum....specific to CM;

I have several friends who have had businesses in various places in Thailand as well as other countries.

ALL of them say that CM workers are the LAZIEST of any workers they've had.

Furthermore I think the farang's who get so upset about this have no clue.

Actually local CM Thais will readily acknowledge that in general they are lazier than

Thais from other areas.

I have personally been told this by several Thais.

[harrry]

I do not think thais young or otherwise are lazy....maybe unmotivated or demotivated. It seems that they do not know that they can achieve so do not try to.

[barefoot1988]

Since this is the CM forum....specific to CM;

I have several friends who have had businesses in various places in Thailand as well as other countries.

ALL of them say that CM workers are the LAZIEST of any workers they've had.

Furthermore I think the farang's who get so upset about this have no clue.

Actually local CM Thais will readily acknowledge that in general they are lazier than

Thais from other areas.

I have personally been told this by several Thais.

personally i had some doubt in this as it differ from my experience but that had surely some truth in it

so what workers work the hardest? and care to share what industries are your friends in and the various places and countries for the comparison?

[cmsally]

I disagree that the locals are lazy. There are some dam_n lazy farang back in farangland that's for sure just as there are some lazy people here. One thing I do notice here is the inability/unwillingness to multitask. Generally if you employ someone to do a job, trying to get them to do something outside their "role" is like pulling teeth. Certainly not the case for everyone but is a trend especially with the younger Thais. Could be a case of the rise of the conglomerate in their lifetime therefore thinking every business should have multitudes of "tamneng" / positions.

[PlanetX]

What does this have to do with CM?

I find your title offensive, I find you arrogant and offensive.

If the job is so great do it yourself. Unless you are paying 30k+ a month then don't be bragging how much you pay and how great of a job it is.

You want someone to be fluent in English and have all these skills that you don't posess in yourself and I assume that you are paying them 1/10th of what you would like to earn and expect them to jump up and down in praise of your imperialistic generosity.

There are lazy people here as anywhere. I get so tired of these stupid generalizations.

If you want qualified and diligent workers, you need to take time to find them. As any boss would know finding a good workforce anywhere is a challenge.

Why not blame yourself for not screening during the interview process.

A bad craftsman blames the tools.

HAHAHAHHAA

[CMweb]

What does this have to do with CM?

I find your title offensive, I find you arrogant and offensive.

If the job is so great do it yourself. Unless you are paying 30k+ a month then don't be bragging how much you pay and how great of a job it is.

You want someone to be fluent in English and have all these skills that you don't posess in yourself and I assume that you are paying them 1/10th of what you would like to earn and expect them to jump up and down in praise of your imperialistic generosity.

There are lazy people here as anywhere. I get so tired of these stupid generalizations.

If you want qualified and diligent workers, you need to take time to find them. As any boss would know finding a good workforce anywhere is a challenge.

Why not blame yourself for not screening during the interview process.

A bad craftsman blames the tools.

I’m in CM, so should I ask what guys are doing in Hong Kong???

It was a simple question to find out what other think about, I know lazy peoples are all over the world, but I’m now in CM so I ask for CM

30K per month? We pay much more then this!!!

Anyway, I find somebody who should start next week, let’s hope this works this time.

[David006]

okay some of us oldies who delivered papers and milk when young and/or worked 12 hour days in the corporate world yadda yadda seem to think we have this wonderful work ethic compared to kids today...maybe it is true. My thinking is that social influence is the main factor.

Is a kid lazy because he/she does not like the idea of sitting in an office or a retail outlet 8-12 hours a day..probably not...buggered if I could do it.

One thing I have noticed is the total lack of initiative or a not my job thought process..silly things like picking up or replacing a broom or tool after use, coil and hang the water hose or even placing a bit of garbage from next to the can inside? Then I think maybe I am just being anal and just do it myself. Too old and impatient to point it out or try to train 'em...lol

Been trying for weeks to find someone to come spray our farm for weeds.."yes yes come next week"...no show. Also someone to mix and lay some concrete.."yes yes come next week" ....no show.....very frustrating....ask the wife what's wrong with these people..."they busy,they go to dead people/wedding party, they sick , they busy., they go to BKK."....aaaaaaH.............sigh

Like someone said do it yourself and use the cash to buy beer....lol