Temps, 1 out of every 20 is decent

Kutter

Kutter

Kutter

Soldato
Joined
22 Mar 2009
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Location
Georgia, USA
The company i work for has gone through 190 temps since the start of the year, i have anywhere between 2 to 10 temps on each shift. Currently i have 2 that are decent and i would hire but they have to wait 3 months before i can start the process.
The problems range from them not wanting to do any work when they turn up, to actually arguing with my line leads, when asked to perform simple tasks. Its getting to the point where i am telling the leads to have really low expectations of the people that turn up.
if they do a good job and get hired, after training they would be on $18-19 per hour. which is above average for the area.
I feel sorry for the 1st shift manager as she has around 10-20 temps on her shift and it just creates even more stress dealing with some of the people that turn up.
Has the work force declined now? or are kids these days just a waste of time?
 
I've noticed it in decline over the last decade - I wonder if the perception of work, which is heavily based on stereotypes, etc. pushed in TV/Movies is partly to blame.

We have so many new starters of school/uni leaver age these days where it is a rude awakening when they find they actually have to do some work to keep their job - it didn't used to be like that years ago when it was maybe the odd 1-2 in every 10. I'd say same kind of ratio here as well of the 50-60 or so temps we had through our doors over last year maybe 3 were worth keeping on the rest were lazy, incompetent and took no responsibility for the job they were doing.
 
Had the same issue when I used to work in a call centre. They were utter dross. The majority ended up coming from those on jobseekers who were basically forced (rightly) to get a job. The problem is that they didn't want one.
 
When I went from engineer to supervisor I learned very quickly why 90% of the temp workforce are temps: they don't want to work. The majority will attend a company (using "work" would imply effort, hence "attend") until they get jogged on, go to the next one, rinse and repeat.

The best temps in building maintenwnce are all foreign. English building engineers are so lazy it's unreal. They just want a job where they can change a light bulb or two a day and call it quits.

And before anyone jumps down my throat, I was a temp for about 3 years myself, I have employed over 200 temps at various companies in various roles and by and large the English all suck. To be lazy you habe to be smart in order to hide your laziness. Being thick and lazy is not a good combo and the nail which sticks out the most always gets the hammer. I've had some phenominal English staff but sadly they rarely stick around as they're in high demand. The building maintenance game has loads of textbook Daily Mail readers who are all ehrmahgehrd immigrants so they pay over the odds for decent English crew.

Out of choice I go for Aussies as sparkies, particularly those with mining electrician on their CV, and oddly enough the best plumber I've ever hired was a Nigerian(!). I've had people from Zimbabwe, South Africa, Nigeria, Syria, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Brazil, Mozambique, Ghana, Czech Republic, Poland, Russia (rarer than you'd think!), and a few more.

I wish I could say that the English are awesome but in building maintenance, here in London at least, they are honestly the wealest link.

My wife has the same impression too from when she managed a GBK years ago. Her theory, which I agree with, is that English folks have safety nets. Most of the time it doesn't matter if they get sacked because they'll still have a roof over their heads and food on the table. If us filthy jerb stealing immingrants get the axe we're screwed. Family is usually a billion miles away, there is no family real estate here and more often than not no family at all, so for us it's either perform or gtfo.

It is telling that this is exactly the same situation with the Dutch in Holland. When I was pipefitting my fellow apprentices were stoned every single day and did maybe 20% of the work I did, which made me a firm favourite amongst the fitters because I'm amazeballs like that.
 
Dis86 said:
Had the same issue when I used to work in a call centre. They were utter dross. The majority ended up coming from those on jobseekers who were basically forced (rightly) to get a job. The problem is that they didn't want one.
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I wouldn't expect many people working in a call centre to actually want to be there.

It's probably worse than shovelling **** for a living.
 
Surely it works the other way round too? I was a temp years ago. Not because I didn't want work but because the job I was accepted for was only a 6-month temp and I've been out of work for a number of months, so I took it. The 6 months temp ended then I got made permanent and had a pay rise. Then last year there was a redundancy round and I was one of the few that survived it.
 
FoxEye said:
I wouldn't expect many people working in a call centre to actually want to be there.

It's probably worse than shovelling **** for a living.
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Honestly - it wasn't too bad. The advantage I had was I was at uni full time and working there full time (very long days!) but it meant that my mind was at least on other things.
 
Diddums said:
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Bloody immigrants, coming over here and doing jobs efficiently. If you just half arsed it a bit more we'd have another 3 people in work doing your job! How are we meant to get our lazy workforce into jobs if you insist on performing adequately all the time?

I did enjoy the bit where not being high on drugs effectively makes you one of the best temps in Holland. That's a bar even I could hit!
 
the place i used to work at went through temp after temp after temp after temp until we get one that actually wants to do some work, they kept them on saying it's temp to perm and i had fully trained them then they got rid of them after 6 months, 10 years they did that until i left, it done my head in
 
Whenever I've done temping I was treated like ****. If I'd carried on doing it I would have ended up doing the absolute minimum as the norm, luckily my effort paid off and I was recommended for a perm role and haven't had to do it again.
 
something daft already!! said:
Improve your hiring standards.
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This.

Sounds like you need to stop recruiting every temp that applies and actually have a proper hiring process to weed out the ones that are most likely to not perform.

If 1 out of 20 is decent then whoever decided to give them the job is quite simply rubbish at recruiting.
 
When I did temping/agency work I found that I stuck around at the places that were decent to work at. Some of the places I went to were staffed by complete and utter ****s and I just did the minimum, no way am I busting myself for unappreciative bottom feeders.

Conversely the nicest place I worked at kept me for almost 18 months, then the cutbacks started and as last in, I was first out.
 
I temped a lot after uni because I had no idea what else to do.

Me and 2 other mates did nightshifts for next the clothes shop in lakeside, Runing their stock to the shop floor from a local warehouse where it was all picked. We basically ran the placaefter 3 weeks cos we were the only people with more than 2 braincells to rub together. The boss just gave us all the paperwork, let us split between the real employees, then drive it over to the shop. It was a piece of cake.

Had a recruiter guy told me to lie and bs all the time as a temp, fk them he said, just do what you want and get away with as much as you can. I have no idea how his company stayed in business.
 
A2Z said:
This.

Sounds like you need to stop recruiting every temp that applies and actually have a proper hiring process to weed out the ones that are most likely to not perform.

If 1 out of 20 is decent then whoever decided to give them the job is quite simply rubbish at recruiting.
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We dont recruit them, we ask the agency for them.
 
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