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Cheats, Liars, and
Thieves – Meet Your Next Employees
First we’ve been told
that there will not be enough people to fill all the jobs that are
available. Projections by the Bureau of Labor Statistics forecast a
shortage of 10,033,000 people to fill all the jobs in 2010 – that’s
only 2700 days away.
As if that wasn’t bad
enough, we’re then told that over 90 million people demonstrate
literacy and numeracy skills below a tenth-grade level. That is far below the minimum skill level to perform all jobs
except the most entry-level positions. In fact, according to a 1999 study of job applicants, more than
one in three individuals lacked the literacy skills to do the job they
applied for.
And now a new report
released this week by the Josephson Institute of Ethics paints an even
uglier picture of our next generation of workers. The study is significant in that it surveyed 12,000 high school
students and that the results are compared with surveys completed every
two years since 1992.
A summary of
significant findings:
Cheating. The
number of high school students who admit that they cheated on an exam in
the past year increased from 61% in 1992 to 74% in 2002. If you think religious schools are the solution, think again.
78 percent of students attending religious schools were likely to
cheat compared with 72% of students at other schools.
Theft. The number of high school students who admit that they stole
something from a store in the past 12 months increased from 33 % in 1992
to 38 % in 2002. And what
about our future leaders? 34
% of students in leadership positions and 30% of honor students stole
from a store.
But don’t take
stealing personal. 28 % of the students admitted stealing from a parent or
relative in 2002 compared with only 24 % in 1992.
Lying.
37 % of the high school students would be willing to “lie to get a
good job”, an increase of 9 % in just two years. But again don’t
take it personal.
93 % of the students
admitted to lying to their parents in 2002, an increase of 10% since
1992, including 95 % of students attending religious schools compared to
91 % of students of other schools.
83% of students also
admitted lying to teachers in 2002 compared to 69 % in 1992.
46% admitted that they
“sometimes lie to save money” compared to 36 % in 2000. And 43 %
agreed that “ a person has to lie or cheat sometimes in order to
succeed.”
Despite these alarming
numbers, 76 % said, “When it comes to doing what is right, I am better
than most people I know.”
The moral of this
story? If you plan to
continue in business AND you plan to grow your business, you will need
employees. Your employees
– especially if they are skilled and honest and hard-working
– will become a precious commodity and the target of every
other employer with an open position. The pool of employees available to replace existing employees
and to fill newly created positions will be scarce. And the quality of the pool will be diminished by lack of
technical skills, lack of literacy skills, and lack of – well, let’s
just call it lack of decency.
There
is not a single projection that forecasts any improvement in the
quantity or quality of available workers for years to come. Developing a selection and retention plan to identify who will
stay and who will leave, who will be hired and who will be passed by, is
no longer an item to be placed on next year’s strategic plan. The Perfect Labor Storm is getting closer and growing stronger
every day.
For
more information about identifying the employees you want to retain and
acquiring new employees with the skills and character you need, click
here for a FREE consultation.
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Success Performance Solutions
invites you to attend 
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is Now On-Line!