Work attitude of Thais

[Guest]

 

Insight from talking to many Business owners in Thailand. The number #1 problem in service business is staff especially in fast food. It does not matter if the owner is Thai or Farang, they both say the #1 problem is Thai staff.

 

I'm told they usally get called by one of the mall landlords, one of their restaurants has not been open yet at 11 a.m. The mall landlord will call as they get anywhere from 20-30% of the gross sale for rent. The two employees never bother to call.

 

Is this just a Thai thing though? I was at a Subway in the States the day after Christmas. The poor manager was stuck there alone. None of the 3 employees had showed up. She was all alone with a constant line of 5-15 people. Out of sliced tomatoes and pickles as she had no time to cut more.

 

I was in a famous Disco a month ago in Thailand. The staff practically kneel on the floor while doing the wai to their Thai Boss. Total absolute respect. However he ask 6 different staff in 45 minutes to turn the music down. They all crawled away but none of them lowered the speakers to the live band.

 

Finally he gets up and does it himnself. I asked him about it, when he returned to our table. He explained" They respect but don't follow as they had conflict with upsetting the band, even though I'm the owner, they did nothing. I guarantee, I leave and the music is back up too loud in 20 minutes"

 

In the Western world, your boss tells you to it, especially this Boss( very wealthy and generous) you do it. No questions asked.

 

This e-mail below was just sent to me. Sums up what I hear from many owners.

 

The biggest problem I have is my Thai staff. No offense intended toward any Thai. The quality of employees in this country leaves a lot to be desired. I can tell them to do something over and over again until Im blue in the face and as soon as I turn my back, they do it the way they

want anyway. Just getting them to ask if the customer would like a soda with their pizza is an ongoing battle that has lasted nearly 2 years now. I have finally got them to ask people who are looking at the pizza if they need help.

 

We are open at night. Most people that work those hours have a bar girl mentality. I pay relatively well at 25B/hr. But have had many employees quit to work in a beer bar for 2500 per month because its more fun.

 

Even after all this time, the quality varies from day-to-day. Pizza is not that difficult, yet my cook cant seem to understand following a recipe is absolutely essential to uniformity. Its hard for me to fire him, since hard

work isnt the problem and he tries very hard. I give him a room in the store in return for taking calls and making pizza after hours. I stopped by at 4:30 am tonite (2 hours after closing) and he was prepping pineapple for the

next day. I have had an ad running for 6 weeks now for an additional cook and havent had a single response. Virtually everyone that works for me can make pizza but they prefer not to since its hot in the kitchen. Its the cooks job. On the other hand, they are completely trustworthy, exceptionally clean and hard working in their assign duties and we have never been a baht short in the register. I wish I could have said the same for my employees in San Diego.

 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

I would like to add..The companies that seem to not have this as a problem. They state they had to fire many people till they acquired a good crew.

 

Any other viewpoints?

 

 

 

 

[Guest]

Having been in the service industry all my life, I can relate to all the "problems". In fact they may not be problems, but rather an occupational condition.

 

"Service" staff are generally regarded as the bottom of the food chain. Even with great bosses, viable working conditions, and frequent morale boosters, it is difficult, though not impossible, to find and keep good staff.

 

These conditions are true in both the Western world and in SE Asia. Thailand is one of the more difficult area of operation, but one can find good staff here as well. No doubt it takes time to find them ( the, have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find a prince, syndrome), it takes less time to train them than in some areas, but the maintenance is high. Most managers in Thailand, be they Thai or Farang, spend far to little time in their actual operations. The staff all see this and have little respect for the boss that is only there 2-3 days (hours) a week. One of the most common signs of a successful operation is that the manager/owner is almost always there. So pick a business you like! a lot !!

 

Once you have established yourself and thus, your relationship with your staff, things can ease up a little. But only a little. The service industry here requires that you are hands on constantly, and is one of the prime reasons for business failure in this area. This also applies in the Western world. Other cultures are better success rates due to their different cultural approaches.

 

In the west we often use very structured work environments, while China uses the family.Each place is unique, and requires and unique approach. But it is all psooible.

 

Know anyone looking for a good manager?

[shotover]

Thanks for the insight Showtime. One thought:

 

"Most people that work those hours have a bar girl mentality. I pay relatively well at 25B/hr. But have had many employees quit to work in a beer bar for 2500 per month because its more fun."

 

I agree many ladies working beer bars consider more fun than many other available jobs. I would guess the 2500 to 3500 baht monthly salary is not the big financial incentive; it would certainly be the big money that can be made by going with customers; often 20,000 baht or more per month.

[JAYBLOOM]

 

"Most people that work those hours have a bar girl mentality. I pay relatively well at 25B/hr. But have had many employees quit to work in a beer bar for 2500 per month because its more fun."

 

Showtime:

I am convinced that most Thais have no idea how to divide. Whenever I ask them how much they make per hour they look at me as if I asked them to explain Einstein's Theory of Relativity. Even here in Denver, Colorado, a Thai would prefer to take a job in a Thai restaurant that pays $1200/ month and work 300 hrs/ month than a job that pays $6/hour.

 

 

[gobbledonk]

Showtime,

 

I pay relatively well at 25B/hr

 

Wow - 25 baht an hour : thats a little over one Australian dollar ! I am beginning to realise just how much money the bargirls make in Thai terms, if that is the frame of reference that 'unskilled' labour can expect to make - little wonder they run off to work in the bar ...

[Shit-Spattered Dog]

::

"We are open at night. Most people that work those hours have a bar girl mentality. I pay relatively well at 25B/hr. But have had many employees quit to work in a beer bar for 2500 per month because its more fun. "

 

Just can back from thailand last week. Met a hostess girl whom I took out and spent some time with. Nice girl but does not work as a bar girl. Hostess only.

So I ask her how much does she make. She reply that I make 2500B per month. Plus half of any drinks customers may buy her.

 

So I ask the question why do you work here? Her reply was because it is fun and to meet a Farang for a long term relationship. I now understand. She could make more money working somewhere else but than it wouldn't be as much fun.

 

Shit..

 

 

 

[Guest]

I'm not trying to take the piss here, but I believe one of the fundamentals of "work" is that fair remuneration provides incentive for a fair days work. Maybe it is the lazy Aussie languishing in the backwaters of a socialist utopia in me that speaks, but I have had much experience in the service industry, from cleaning to managment and find this to be true. I'm putting myself through uni here and work nights in a pub, and get fairly decent money for it. If I was doing it for any less, I think my attitude would change. See a pattern emerging here? I wouldnt expect some kid at the bottom of the employment food-chain to be brimming with enthusiasm after 6 months on the job with little or no prospects of advancement. I know exactly how you feel, infact I managed a bar/restraunt/accom in Ko Samui in 1995 for a wealthy Bangkok family and felt the frustration of seeing staff who just didnt give a damn. However, when I put myself in their shoes, my perspective changed.

 

Cheers

 

Jaga

[SingaporeSteve]

I think this is very timely. Our company acquired a Thai owned business owned and operated by a Thai since set up about 15 yrs ago. Recently for a number of reasons, we have changed the senior management team and removed the key Thai guys for non delivery against our standards.

 

Our policy, rightly or wrongly has been to allow our country heads a lot of discretion in how they run there national operation. we operate in over 60 countries and so far this has proved to be a major strength for us. However in Thailand its been a disaster. When a new temporary group of managers were inptroduced including me, we found a group of employees that had no idea of our values, our background or our financial position. They were fearful of their jobs and that we may just close everything down. We flew in two of our top guys in the region and had Q&A sessions and a big dinner for all the staff including the lowest employees such as housemaids and messengers. Given the option in advance to nominate anonymous questions all our staff asked questions and then some of the braver ones also asked questions at the event.

 

One of the biggest concerns they had was what was the future for them in terms of money and security. Our previous Thai management had never given any briefings on our business success or any kind of motivational training or support. These were easily handled at the event, however we lost 25% of our front line staff prior to this event as they became worried about the future as the leadership team had changed. I am pleased to say that things have stabilised tremendously and our people have a new energy.

 

What have we learnt from this? You have to set standards, procedures and policy's for everything. I had to laugh at the comment about the shop in the mall not being open at 11.00AM. We used to have a similar issue with staff abscense however the simple fact is nobody had told the staff that they must phone in by 10.00 to report a sickness and bring in a sickness letter from a doctor. If they did that they would be paid in full.

Once the plicies and standards are defined, include them in job offer letter, employment conditions if you like. Write it all out in Thai as well as English as required.

 

We have also sharpended up our HR policy and procedures by introducing pay scales which are published and we are about to implement a grading system to allow the staff through their bi-annual appraisal to progress both within their group of grades and beyond. The reaction from our staff has been fantastic, however I should add that in our business, all our staff are at least college graduates, most have university degrees.

 

Cheers

 

[Guest]

Jag...,

 

You bring it right down to the point and in my point of view you are absolutely correct.

 

And that?s the reason why I mainly stay out of discussions about the moral, motivation of bg?s and if they deserve any respect or not (this time I maybe steer one up ). Most of the people not respecting bg?s, have a big lack of knowledge why this profession was chosen and have no idea about the backgrounds. BTW, I also believe that many of the higher class thais have no idea respectively they give a shit about it.

 

Many (maybe some, I do not have a statistic) of the bg?s worked for years in so called ?normal? jobs before they entered a bar for the first time in their live. Reading this please keep in mind that in Thailand the factories are full with child staff (13,14,15 etc. years old). Many of them already have a child and left their hometown to make the big money in the big city, without having an idea how to operate the door on a city bus.

 

So they make now, lets say 5000 Bath a month for a 60 hours week. At the end of the month maybe 200-300 Bath are left to send home, maybe even less. And as they are old enough, they get by accident or not, in contact with girls making their weeks salary in one night. Guess what they think. I take any bet that they do not think things like:

 

- uhhh, I will have lot of fun at the bar and even get money for it

- uhhh, I will meet falangs and have a great time with them

- uhhh, I love making sex with every guy coming across and pay for it

 

What they most probably think is: hhhmm, this sounds like a job I can make enough money to afford all of us, my child, my parents who look after my child and myself a more convenient life. It seems to be worth to give up my shyness and to lower my own standard of moral.

 

And then again, there are falangs complaining that many bg?s are just behind their money. Funny somehow.

 

I am sorry if the above is a little bit generalized, it is I know, but I am quite certain that this is more or less the story of many of the bg's. But however, to come back to the subject, the high amount of prostitutes in Thailand is direct effect of the bad educational system and the lousy income in ?normal? jobs, these people can apply to. And this is definitely not a generalization but a fact.

 

[jasmine]

Hi,

 

[color:"red"] Most of the people not respecting bg?s, have a big lack of knowledge why this profession was chosen and have no idea about the backgrounds. BTW, I also believe that many of the higher class thais have no idea respectively they give a shit about it. [/color]

 

You are very correct about the higher class Thais. I wish they did care and I am not talking about caring like some of these high, mighty people who advertise that they care for their own gain.

 

I feel that most Thais try their best to earn an honest living, the problem is there seems to be less chance for lower educated people to make a decent living.

 

I understand that the minimum wage is still around 100 Baht a day. I feel that if I eat only 20 Baht a day on that wage, still, I could not survive when there are other needs than food.

 

There will be less prostitution, IMO, if the lower educated people can find decent wage jobs.

 

Cheers!