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I don't know the guy, but I see no indication of jelousy in his thread and he clearly indicated he does not want to babysit (micromanage) his employees.
You are really too defensive here. try another approach to get your point across.
Im just confuse why people suddenly think State Employees are Lazy.
I sense its just jealously just because its more slow pace and relaxed but that does not mean we can't sit here for 8 hours a day not doing **** .
Interns are interns for a reason, they are there to learn and someone needs to guide them.
If the interns are just goofing around someone needs to discipline them or remind them of the rules.
OP instead of ranting how about lending them a hand instead of backstabbing them? and learn to accept not every employee is going to be the Type A Employee you expect
If you expect them to hit the floor without any guidance then they are not really interns are they?
Last edited by CosmoStars; 01-04-2017 at 01:53 PM..
My boss when I was a union state employee was FAAR worse than any boss I've ever had in the private industry. Talk about a micromanager. I haven't even talked to my current boss since mid-Dec. When I was a union boy, I think I threw two phones off the wall because of my micromanaging boss calling every 5 mins and yelling about something.
Not everyone in private sector works 16 hour days for a whiplashing boss, just like not everyone who is in a union sits and hides for 7 hours a day.
I started off working for the Government as a State Intern and had a good mentor
I did not have a whiplashing boss like the OP who has way too aggressive expectations for his interns and possibly micromanages and criticizes all my work.
Someone needed to guide me on doing my job and thats why I was an intern because I needed to learn the ropes and backs of the organization and the job
Do they work for you or just assigned to observe your company?
Quote:
Originally Posted by MetroWord
What do you suppose I am jealous about? Let's look at and compare the benefits.
Company vehicle: I get a new SUV every other year for both personal and professional use. Unlimited use, actually. State employees are not allowed to even stop at a grocery store on the way home. All state cars have GPS trackers.
Transferable from state to state: I work for a company that has branches in every state as well other continents. I can transfer to anywhere I want. State employees are stuck in their own state. This one is important because my spouse and I want to move to a warmer state eventually.
Retirement: I on track to getting about $9k/month for retirement on top of my savings. State employees get a pension.
Job security: I'm ok with getting rid of dead weights. In fact, state workers seem to be very proud of the fact that they can be dead weights and nothing will happen to them.
Pay: I get paid almost twice as much as my peers working for the state. Even my interns are getting paid $18/hour and driving company cars while state interns are getting paid $11/hour driving their own cars. Do the math.
Remind me of what I'm suppose to be jealous about again?
Ok, so you get company car and acknowledge they don't/can't even stop at the store; you have a pension most would love to have for their pay; you get paid twice state employees; your interns get paid more than the state interns AND get company cars. Yet you complain about folks who are getting paid far less not being as motivated. Couldn't have anything to do with the poor pay, poor benefits, and lack of respect could it?
Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnZ963
We have a state government building nearby that probably employs about 200 salaried office workers. "Quitting time" is 4:30pm. The parking lot is empty by 4:35pm. Right next to that is an office for a Fortune 500 company that also has about 200 employees. "Quitting time" is 5:00pm. The parking lot is still half full at 6:00pm. I've never received a response to an email or call from a state worker after their official "quitting time." I will say that while I will not get a pension, my pay and bonus are double what I'd make doing the same thing for the state.
You admit your pay and bonus are double. You do know they will get in trouble if they stay late because someone will write his Representative about the waste in paying them overtime don't you? So do you want to pay them more or will you then complain about them being paid to wait for your after hours email?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dd714
I don't know the guy, but I see no indication of jelousy in his thread and he clearly indicated he does not want to babysit (micromanage) his employees.
You are really too defensive here. try another approach to get your point across.
The OP started off with the premise that government employees are lazy. After a while you get tired of getting bashed all the time for things that are simply not true. Are there lazy employees? Of course. Just like at Walmart, and Lock-Mart, and anywhere else. And there are employees that go above and beyond every day, again just like anywhere else.
I have worked in government and private sector jobs. I have seen bad employees in both. There are bad eggs everywhere yet only government workers are constantly derided as being useless lazy workers. Two bad interns do not warrant justifying the generalization of all state government workers as lazy. Slackers will be slackers no matter where they work especially if they are allowed to get away with it. Has anyone spoken to the interns?
I have a few questions related to this after reading a lot of the comments through the thread:
1. Should interns be highly motivated when you are giving them a task of typing a nomenclature on a page while they see others "doing professional calculations and reports"?
2. Do you typically wait two weeks to review tasks that are assigned?
3. Do you have discretion with coaching and discipline over these interns? Have you even tried to work with them or does your past prejudice taint that ability?
4. Perhaps the internship was not based on ability. Some are based on specific programs or locations and are not awarded on merit. Did you get to choose or be a part of the process that identified the interns?
It is true that many public sector employees may be unmotivated, but I believe that falls largely on their leadership. Having worked and managed in private, not-for-profit, and public sector, I will argue that poor personnel management and failures of mid and upper level leadership to coach and inspire their teams is the root cause.
I think it's also unrealistic to expect that you'll get the same performance from an $11/hour employee as you'd get from an $18/hour employee. Pay is usually commensurate with responsibility.
If #4 is true, the internship may be part of a requirement of a program and not necessarily based on interest either. The individuals may be doing it because they have to and could be placed based on the availability during the particular year/semester. If they had put that they were interested in A but only B was available their internship semester, well then B it is. I wouldn't expect them to put forth full effort into B or act like an $18/hour employee who had specifically picked that company and had the company car. An internship is a learning/training experience, and some people are simply going to learn that they don't like a particular experience. I don't think that has anything to do with it being government, though. Schools have internship programs all over the place and not just with the government. There are bad/disinterested apples in any bunch.
OP instead of ranting how about lending them a hand instead of backstabbing them?
Backstabbing? I haven't backstabbed anyone. In fact, I haven't said a word about the incompetence I have observed in the state interns. If state people ever ask me how they did, I will say they did pretty good. I never get asked this, though. None of my colleagues have ever been asked about the performance of their state interns.
And no, ranting on a forum with random people is not backstabbing. I have not revealed anything that could potentially identify the interns in question.
About my observation that the state doesn't hire interns on merits, 2 years ago my office was asked to have 2 state interns observe our work. We were managing a DOT project. One intern was a business major and the other was a history education major. Neither one of them wanted to be an engineer. They just wanted a summer job and apparently their folks knew somebody.
Unless they are well connected then they are untouchable. That is the whole problem with this "fit" workplace culture where everyone only wants to work with their buddies, and get their buddies hired and let HR jerk arround external candidates. It leads to poor morale and disengagement and fills companies with cronies immune normal performance evaluations.
Yep, I've worked in the public and the private sector and both had their share of slackers, but in one my private sector jobs every manager (except me) was in some way 'connected' to the business owners, they were either blood relatives, in-laws, or neighbors, they did what they wanted with complete impunity and when the crap hit the fan they would invariably blame rank and file workers who for the most part were reliable, decent employees.
I have had many experiences with non-motivated state employees. I've worked in both the public and private sectors. I'm currently in the private sector and intend on staying put.
I currently have 2 interns who are working for my company and 2 state interns. I have come to find my interns a lot more dependable than the state interns. I tell my interns to do something, they do it. In fact, they are now capable of doing professional calculations and reports on their own without being babysat. I have also come to realize that the state interns in my office cannot be depended on anything.
2 weeks ago, I told one of the state interns to go to xyz folder. He should find 5 pages. I told him to write "Type E" on top of those pages. While sitting and joking around, he said ok. I just checked those pages this morning. Nothing.
This is the same pattern that I observed back when I worked for the state. Yes, there are good honest workers working in the public sector. But the way the system is there are simply too many slackers who get away with doing the absolute minimum.
The 2 state interns have been working in my office. From their attitude, I would never hire them. While my interns are hard at work and trying to learn as much as they could, the state interns would just be joking around or doing things as slow as they can get away with.
Sometimes, I like to take the interns out to show them the actual construction and teach them stuff. I would ask them what is that or why are they doing xyz? My interns would be trying come up with answers and listen intently as I explain things. The state interns most of the time don't even pay attention or would be on their phone.
It is obvious the state interns did not get the job based on merits.
I think that I might have the answer to this, in this question.
Do interns actually get paid to work ?
You're getting labor for free !
Maybe it's time to not be so cheap and critical and hire someone.
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