How do you motivate Thai staff?

[ruds]

Im looking for genuine advice here as I have a current member of staff who I don't want to lose because of certain skills he has but I just can not seem to motivate him to do a decent days work. I recently increased his salary to 20,000 baht from 15,000 baht but that didn't work. Any advice would be appreciated

[simon43]

Give him a promotion (in job title only)? Head of something...?

Award him the Foreign Chamber of Commerce Goldstar medal for excellent service??

Give him a whistle?????

Sorry, but I have never been able to motivate Thai staff - I try to avoid using them now.

Story:

When I first moved to Thailand I owned 2 tourist bars in Sukhumvit with female bar staff (no, not a go-go bar)

.

These women never smiled, despite all my encouragement.

One day, I had enough of their glum looks.

'You have a choice' I said. 'You can either start smiling at the customers or you can all off!'

The staff had a quick discussion and then all <deleted> off......

[bino]

He has likely become complacent - thinks he is irreplaceable because of the skills he has. He thinks you need him more than he needs you.

Giving him a straight salary increase like you did was stupid. It just reinforced his thinking as above. You should have given him a performance / work based commission or target system to earn the money. The way to motivate a Thai is to make them greedy.

Obviously his skills are replaceable... if he was a 15,000 a month kind of employee. We aren't talking rocket science or nuclear physics here. You need to give him a dose of reality / wake up call. Scare the s**t out of him and let him know that he is 100% replaceable. If he walks, so be it.

Edited August 24, 2014 by bino

[ruds]

He is on a commission for extra business he brings in but that hasn't worked either. Just for the record he is half Thai / Half farang and 21 years old

[givenall]

Replace him with Burmese and don't worry about skill they learn fast

[ezzra]

In another 1,000 years from now, someone will still be asking the same question, and the answer

will be same, not much you can do to motivate Thai staff, they have their own logics, priorities,

timing and reasons to work the way they do and the western educated minds will never decipher

that code...

[Soutpeel]

In another 1,000 years from now, someone will still be asking the same question, and the answer

will be same, not much you can do to motivate Thai staff, they have their own logics, priorities,

timing and reasons to work the way they do and the western educated minds will never decipher

that code...

so the fact the employee is 21 has absolutely nothing to do with this ?.....he lacks motivation only because he is Thai ?..nothing to do with the fact that the employee, is still basically a "child" and as a "child" they get bored with things and will has other "priorities"

and if it is a "genetic" trait we also have understand the employee is only half Thai, what about his "farang" half then, where does that fit into your logical reasoning...

"bino's" response is most likely the correct approach...

[JeremyBowskill]

Try a big stick!

[rayinkrabi]

It's long been accepted that money is not the biggest motivator (in any country or culture) and we Farang have many factors working against us when employing Thai Nationals, discrimination and complacency being high on my list. In my experience, 21 yr olds here often think and act much younger than their years and are extremely difficult to motivate in any way.

Having said this, I personally believe that motivation comes from within the individual so the phrase of 'motivating someone to perform' is misleading as the real task of any employer is provide the right conditions etc. for the employee to feel good and give their best effort off their own back...a very difficult task here :-)

I reckon Simon is on the right track with his motivational ideas but may have shot himself in the foot when he waved the big stick at his staff with the ultimatum of smile or go..but there again it sounds like he knows what he is doing so was probably better off without them!

[canman]

He has likely become complacent - thinks he is irreplaceable because of the skills he has. He thinks you need him more than he needs you.

Giving him a straight salary increase like you did was stupid. It just reinforced his thinking as above. You should have given him a performance / work based commission or target system to earn the money. The way to motivate a Thai is to make them greedy.

Obviously his skills are replaceable... if he was a 15,000 a month kind of employee. We aren't talking rocket science or nuclear physics here. You need to give him a dose of reality / wake up call. Scare the s**t out of him and let him know that he is 100% replaceable. If he walks, so be it.

I think Bino is correct. Best way to give him a scare is to start interviewing candiates to replace him. If that doesn't wake him up you are better without him.

[Robert2006]

Other than the Chinese-Thai’s the average Thai is just simply lazy, I’m sure there are exceptions but good lord what a dreadful work force to have to select from.

[stoli]

Replace him with Burmese and don't worry about skill they learn fast

I would agree with this to the extent that you make sure it is legal. No employee is irreplaceable, but when they think they are they will take charge. You empowered him even more with the raise. You can't take that back, but you can bring in a replacement that he will train, (handled right, he will not know that he is training his replacement. He has no skill that can not be learned.) Chalk this up to just another experience in life after you have solved the problem.

[xenophon]

no one is irreplaceable. Male Thai staff are a special challenge.

Give him a female assistant who can get to know his contacts and train her up to something like his level. Get them to compete.

Replace him with her.

[TravelerEastWest]

Starting with someone who knows what they want and has some skill is a good start.

Someone who is 21 is likely to not know what they want in life.

Providing the right environment - enough staff so that they have fun, clean, safe working environment etc.. is also important.

Salary last but not the least is very important.

M- F work week, various health benefits etc are all important.

I see staff who are very relaxed think very carefully about quitting.

[Borzandy]

"motivate" could you translate in Thai please....

[maprao]

Work in the Middle East then go hire staff in Thailand you will never be happier with their performance!!!

[nanapong]

In another 1,000 years from now, someone will still be asking the same question, and the answer

will be same, not much you can do to motivate Thai staff, they have their own logics, priorities,

timing and reasons to work the way they do and the western educated minds will never decipher

that code...

so the fact the employee is 21 has absolutely nothing to do with this ?.....he lacks motivation only because he is Thai ?..nothing to do with the fact that the employee, is still basically a "child" and as a "child" they get bored with things and will has other "priorities"

and if it is a "genetic" trait we also have understand the employee is only half Thai, what about his "farang" half then, where does that fit into your logical reasoning...

"bino's" response is most likely the correct approach...

Absolute tosh , at 21 he's not a child although he'll certainly act like one. The farang part of him is just a mere 5 mins of pleasure. The rest is pure Thai so the best course of action would be to look for someone else. Unfortunately the chances of the replacement being another waste of space are very high.

Any challenge to him will result in loss of face so he's going to walk anyhow.

[Emster23]

Too bad already gave raise hoping that would motivate. Problem is time span between performance you want and pay he wants. Many Thais live in the "now"... payday just too far away to couple with work. Use some small reinforcement for behaviors you want. M&M's work, gold stars, etc. This also works for farangs in work too. An extra 50 or 100 baht for job well done will motivate, or some other recognition. Do that for a few weeks and see what happens. I am against using "stick" some suggest, because all that does is build resentment, minimal performance and anger. I taught special ed emotionally disturbed teens in USA. They liked foosball table time, weekly drawings for inexpensive prizes, etc. Get creative, accept where they are developmentally and think it through.

[atyclb]

220 volts AC

[burgdawg]

relocate business back to your home country.....Or China or VietNam

[Benmart]

In another 1,000 years from now, someone will still be asking the same question, and the answer

will be same, not much you can do to motivate Thai staff, they have their own logics, priorities,

timing and reasons to work the way they do and the western educated minds will never decipher

that code...

The ability look forward 1,000 years is truely amazing, as is the existence of the illusive "code" mentioned.

[razer]

I think most westeners who have lived in Asia for a consideable period of time can agree that, in general, Asians tend to mature emotionally later than those in the same age group in the west. I've pegged the maturity of a westerner to be 3-5 years ahead of an average Asian. If you hire a 21 year old you can set your expectations of matuity at 17-18. I think this cultural since the family unit fosters dependency for a longer peiod of time.

When you hire you should take this into consideration.

[klauskunkel]

Tell him ASEAN is coming like a big tidal wave and soon you may have your pick from talents from those countries with better English to boot!

[Benmart]

Try a big stick!

Brief, lacking substance and pointless.

[belg]

fire him and get to others for 10.000 baht each and hopefully, those 2 new can fill your holes in the job

[i claudius]

Have you tried a cattle prod? to be honest very little will work ,they just do not have the work ethic ,for generations they have been told by those at the top how wonderfull Thais are ,that they have never been conquered and that they are no 1 in the world ,it is and was a ploy to keep them in their"place" and not to have to try to better themselves as there was no need ,unfortunatly for them ,the time is very nearly here when they find that they will not be needed or wanted by foreign firms ,i have a friend who,s wife runs a chain of car washes ,she does not employ one Thai as ,and her words (she is Thai) they are far to lazy.Cambodians work harder and for less ,look what is happening in the UK Poles and other E.U workers come over and work for far less ,so wages are stagnating .

[BrooklynNY]

Other than the Chinese-Thai’s the average Thai is just simply lazy, I’m sure there are exceptions but good lord what a dreadful work force to have to select from.

A farang friend of mine in Bangkok has lived there for almost 30 years said that a Chinese or Thai/Chinese employees have more motivation than real Thais who are lazy. He hired many Thais to work as sales person and office staff but they lacked of motivation. He used to have a business in Bangkok but it had been struggle due to having a hard time hiring any motivated Thai employees. He used to hire some Thais but it did not work out because they were very lazy like for examples that he caught his Thai male was hired as an artist, he was sleeping on a drafting board table while he was out doing photo shooting projects and on that day he came back to his office earlier and problems with Thai female employees who either trying to hit on him or chatting on the phone.

Well, he ended up had a Thai/Chinese female employees as a g/f and had a child together. He said that she was the only good employee who worked hard but the downside was she was jealous of him that he hired other Thai female employees, that slowed down work progress. They finally broke up later on and she took the child with her. His current wife is a Thai from north eastern Thailand whom he tried to train her to work for him as a sales person but she lacks of motivation and they ended up fighting.

His business could have been moving on up if he could have found a single good and reliable Thai employee. Even one of his ex Thai wives screwed up his business badly that he lose his company. He had to start from scratch again and it has been struggle for him due to difficulty finding any reliable Thai employee.

I am a Thai/Chinese and I have never worked in Thailand. I am certain that I can not work with other Thais in Thailand because from what I know many Thais tend to like getting together to gossip if any employee works hard and do better job performance than them, they do not like that. I have a good work ethic and I like to keep it that way.

Edited August 25, 2014 by BrooklynNY

[Eric Loh]

First never use fear to motivate someone. I have 15 Thai staffs and half are bachelor degree holders. Most of them have been with me at least 5 years. Low skill and educated Thais are motivated by different factors. Low skill workers have more mobility and would switch job for bit more Baht.

You have an educated young person and you have given him a very reasonable pay. To motivate him as I experienced is to be involved in his work and give him guidance. Not saying that you do the work but have him discuss with you daily what the tasks you laid out for him and have him suggest a completion period. Ask what problems he or she may encounter and give him solution guidance.

If the completion period is not up to your satisfaction, give him a reasonable date-line. This is a modern era and no employer can be a slave driver. Do a look over his shoulder once in awhile in the pretext of helping him if he have problems. Young people are motivated if their manager are involved, interested and helpful in performing their responsibilities.

[Aree Wongwanlee]

Why don't you ask yourself, very seriously, "What exactly will happen if he isn't there?"?

[Don Aleman]

You probably won't be able to find exactly what you want so hire the best stacked, most beautiful girl you see, pay her the 20,000and, if she can't do the job, you have alternatives for her services I am of the old school that most ugly women can do what you NEED but only those with big tits can do what you WANT !