Warning to employees: Chat or job

[Tokay]

Welp, it looks like Thailand is officially going to shut down.

[Tokay]

All things considered, with the pay these people are getting, I think they would rather chat.

Ever owned a business in here and had to hire Thais? Trust me, they get what they are worth. On second thought, most of them are overpaid.

To be fair, here and there you do find a great employee, but you have to go through a lot of lazy, incompetent, no-show, sleeping on the job, watch the others do all the work types to get a single decent employee.

[starkey_rich]

If they are not on the phone or the internet they are watching TV. Nearly every government office, bank ect has a TV on all day.

The laziest bunch I have had the misfortune to encounter.

[shaurene]

She would be ok in New Zealand, workers have been sacked for stealing, using the companies Internet chatting on their phones and nothing to do with their work, they go to the labour tribunal and although they are guilty they are awarded compensation, bloody crazy, the company has to send them a minimum of 3 warning letters and even then they get stupid amounts of compensation, typical in Labour governments like what ruined the UK.

[Pigdog474]

All things considered, with the pay these people are getting, I think they would rather chat.

Ever owned a business in here and had to hire Thais? Trust me, they get what they are worth. On second thought, most of them are overpaid.

To be fair, here and there you do find a great employee, but you have to go through a lot of lazy, incompetent, no-show, sleeping on the job, watch the others do all the work types to get a single decent employee.

Things haven't changed ... Years ago if I was looking for say 2 new employees, would hire 5 or 6, after a couple of weeks, tell them the jobs been cut back and will have to lay some off. Keep the 2 good workers and let the remainder go. Only way to survive.

[Mot Dang]

One thing I really hate now is being walked off the footpath by high school teenage girls going home from school. They all have their faces so buried in their mobiles busily chatting/texting, that they on mass, walk straight at you not caring who they force off the path. Adult Thais just look at them in dismay. You never saw this attitude in the previous generation. The same mentality as the office workers in question, insecure and inconsiderate of social and workplace decorum.

Edited February 8, 2015 by Mot Dang

[Dustdevil]

Just about every office worker in the country is facing the sack.

Maybe so but I am very impressed by the efficiency and courtesy of young female employees here in Chiang Mai so far. Especially after working and living in the dunderhead, obstructionist wasteland of Saudi Arabia. I went to the Air Asia ticket counter at CM airport the other day and it took the smiling and friendly girl all of three minutes to do it--cancel the old ticket, arrange credit to my card and print me a new ticket for the new flight. I find this fairly typical in CM. And sure, the men are good two. Couple of guys at Thai Rentacar were great. Think this would happen in my nation-nemesis, Malaysia? Not in a million years. Just look at how the Malay Islamo-fascist government handles their stupid airline. And Air Asia's Malaysia-designed website is an egregious mess if you ever want to manage existing bookings. Thank goodness for young Thai women clerks! (Besides, they're incredibly beautiful too.)

[overherebc]

Arrived in the office one morning to find all the staff with playing cards on the desks playing Solitare. When I asked what was going on I was told, " no choice boss, the server is down. ?

[lemonjelly]

I will be discussing this article with all of my uni students next week.

This is getting to be a ridiculous problem. I went to registration desk at hospital here and had to wait for employee to get off her personal phone. I raised hell with the int'l affairs office because I previously worked in healthcare administration back home . Friday I ordered a sandwich and while waiting for it to heat in a toaster oven the employee took two phone calls. The bread had several large burn spots. I demanded my money back...I got it but unfortunately no manager available to complain to.

.... <<The bread had several large burn spots. I demanded my money back...I got it but unfortunately no manager available to complain to.>>.....

either :

a.) brilliant humor,

b.) you're an absolute nightmare to be with

please circle the correct answer.

Edited February 8, 2015 by lemonjelly

[Dustdevil]

She would be ok in New Zealand, workers have been sacked for stealing, using the companies Internet chatting on their phones and nothing to do with their work, they go to the labour tribunal and although they are guilty they are awarded compensation, bloody crazy, the company has to send them a minimum of 3 warning letters and even then they get stupid amounts of compensation, typical in Labour governments like what ruined the UK.

Little too much socialism, I guess. All things in moderation.

[Dustdevil]

If they are not on the phone or the internet they are watching TV. Nearly every government office, bank ect has a TV on all day.

The laziest bunch I have had the misfortune to encounter.

Then you haven't spent any time in the Gulf Middle East.

[willyumiii]

Just about every office worker in the country is facing the sack.

Not so...

Most use their own smart phone, tablet or notebook to chat and play on facebook at work.

Like the recent warning to government employees, it appears this is only if company owned computers and internet connections are used.

In reality, this will not make even a small dent in internet use at work.

[fireblade919]

If Thailand is to progress into the golden age,what they can do is eliminate those in the work place that are lazy,and then those who watch tv or Internet wil have actually work to do ,it's called culling the work force,simple

[Phuketboy]

Employers need to ban smartphones and tablets at work. If I see any of my staff on the phone other than a business call, I make a mental note. if I see them constantly doing it throughout the day, they lose that days pay. I pay staff to work not socialise with friends.

[Balance]

So she was there for less than 3 months and infact still on probation and she still went them for severance pay...... how did the claim make it to any court let alone an appeal in the supreme court ?

Apparently, her appeal was based on the premise that her behavior was not causing any harm to anyone. I really don't know exactly what this belief on her part speaks to. One would presume that she felt no obligation to do anything for the B30,000 being paid to her. Are children taught this attitude?

When managing large medical groups in the U.S., I found that many were overstaffed and some of them literally had nothing to do and spent their time talking to other employees, some of whom had things to do. The answer was to reduce the number of staff. I have walked into large Thai businesses to see more floor staff than customers.

[canarysun]

I know there will be many farang reading this post who live with a Thai lady who is more interested in her mobile phone than the farang himself.......

What a " wonderful relationship " it must be........

[LuckyLew]

"The woman tried to fight back by petitioning to Central Labour Court. She lamented that the firm took action against her over a non-serious issue, something that did not cause any damage."

When you are chatting and not working during office hours you are in effect stealing from the company

This is in fact damaging ... cannot see how she thought she would win this one

[Mr Somtam]

So she was there for less than 3 months and infact still on probation and she still went them for severance pay...... how did the claim make it to any court let alone an appeal in the supreme court ?

Apparently, her appeal was based on the premise that her behavior was not causing any harm to anyone. I really don't know exactly what this belief on her part speaks to. One would presume that she felt no obligation to do anything for the B30,000 being paid to her. Are children taught this attitude?

When managing large medical groups in the U.S., I found that many were overstaffed and some of them literally had nothing to do and spent their time talking to other employees, some of whom had things to do. The answer was to reduce the number of staff. I have walked into large Thai businesses to see more floor staff than customers.

All the time at HomePro, Global House and the likes. How the F*** do they make any money? Underpaying employees and overpricing goods?

And TV's in government offices, banks etc. etc. No words...

Edited February 8, 2015 by Mr Somtam

[MrBrad]

A couple days ago I walked into a photo studio wanting to get pricing on some professional portraits. The 2 women there were both on their phones, paying no attention to me, the potential customer who just walked in. I cleared my throat and said "hello." That didn't even get a response from them. I asked if they wanted my business, and one, without even looking up, shook her head "no." There was no reason for my pursuing my mission any further there.

Annoying as hell.

[jackh]

It's the same thing as texting while driving. You can't do both safely because you cannot pay attention. If you are spending time at work chatting/texting, you then cannot pay attention to your job.

Personally I would not allow it at work either. This girl got what she deserves.

[espinoza]

Every worker in the country is facing the sack including the police

in the country...

rather in the world...

No, in some civilised countries you have rights that protects your private sphere. Even at work. Some civilised countries do not allow the employer to survey what people does on the computers. But this is only in the civilised world.

[Soi Sauce]

Great News. I've taught the CEO of a major property company, and one of his main concerns was the time his staff spent on their make you dumb fones.

It i also a major problem for university lecturers.

Hopefully, this will be used as a precedent for work, education, and dare I say it, even socially.

Let's all learn to speak to friends, in our own time, again.

[me4175]

Every worker in the country is facing the sack including the police

in the country...

rather in the world...

No, in some civilised countries you have rights that protects your private sphere. Even at work. Some civilised countries do not allow the employer to survey what people does on the computers. But this is only in the civilised world.

I guess Germany qualifies as a civilised country and yes, you can get fired there for private Internet use.

http://goo.gl/18ILCx

[surangw]

with less chatting 5 days of work could be done in 3

[Trouble]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

Every worker in the country is facing the sack including the police

in the country...

rather in the world...

No, in some civilised countries you have rights that protects your private sphere. Even at work. Some civilised countries do not allow the employer to survey what people does on the computers. But this is only in the civilised world.

I assume you were joking in your response or you need to define civilized countries. Please give us some examples of civilize countries where employers cannot monitor how their company computers are used. I would assume that if an employee was employed to do accounting on a company computer and instead used it for on-line shopping or watching TV and not doing work they would have something to say about it. Please clarify.

[poweratradio]

I bet this company are glad to be shot of this pain in the butt. She was only at the company for under 3 months and getting fully rid of her took a court case lasting 5 years. Imagine if she had got through her probation, she would have been the nightmare from hell.

I bet there is a back story to this. e.g. Accounting manager or HR manager, off to a new post, squeezes an incompetent friend into the company whilst the senior manager at head office is away on holiday. The HR manager knows that he/she is off to a bigger and better position somewhere else and by the time they discover this new accounting clerk hasn't got a clue, it will be somebody else's problem. Meanwhile new accounting clerk can't do the job so just mucks around on Facebook all day knowing that it is better to do nothing and therefore nothing wrong than to try and fail, safe in the knowledge her back is protected until her buddy, the departing HR manager leaves.

Get a life... OR start writing movie scripts WOW!

[Westaurel]

One stop service official employee play Candy Crush on facebook while I'm waiting 6 hours to renew my wife's ID card !

[jacko45k]

It is becoming tiresome, young people are so dull.

A recent dinner at friends where some just sat and played with their phones but still expecting to be involved in the conversation, and an assistant in a Tesco convenience store, stopped getting my change, while she looked what had just popped into her phone.

[wabothai]

Excellent decision, I hope it sets a precedent, and people get serious about working.

[wabothai]

Should be frontpage news !!