[News] Is Britain work shy ?

[sussex_guy2k2]

One of the best lessons I learned early in my career is that it’s not about how hard you work. In fact, “working hard” in the historical sense is generally detrimental to you and you alone. Working hard generally leads to you doing more work and having more stress for the same money, whilst your boss takes home more for doing less.

We’re a country that’s about who you know, and in some situations, what you know.

Work smarter, not harder.

 

[El Presidente]

Plenty today regarding the thread title and apparently 9.5 million out of education, looking for work, training etc. Maybe others will see it differently but as one caller described on R5 if you are in work then moving around the employment market is so much easier and as some have said you won't get the job you always want so take a job and press on. Your thoughts.

Can’t be arsed replying to this

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Nothing. I don't own one.

I owned five businesses Employed over 20 people. I set up two new businesses and unfortunately my wife was involved in a serious incident which left her in hospital for a year. I had 5 children, with three different schools to drop off and pick up each day, my wife was 45 miles away in hospital. The two businesses failed taking my home with them. I ended up caring for my wife until my daughter was able to do it. I was basically skint though never went bankrupt. Indeed I paid off all the debts as I was able to return to work. Been in private rented ever since. My wife died three years ago. I have since had four operations which led my company to "paying me off" having had 2/3 pay in that time. I'm now self employed just about putting food on the table. I work f***ing hard, I used my pension fund to start my business so will likely be working until I drop.

Could say I've been unfortunate and looking for sympathy, I'm not. If my current business doesn't work out I'll find a job. Never claimed a penny apart from caring for my wife.

You sound like a warrior. Massive admiration.

And very best wishes for the next phase of your life.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Can’t be arsed replying to this

To be fair to @Leekbrookgull he is simply reporting the narrative on the radio.

The comment about it being easier to get a (new) job if you have one was made by a caller. No idea if the caller was correct. But it seemed to work for my son.

 

[Weststander]

One of the best lessons I learned early in my career is that it’s not about how hard you work. In fact, “working hard” in the historical sense is generally detrimental to you and you alone. Working hard generally leads to you doing more work and having more stress for the same money, whilst your boss takes home more for doing less.

We’re a country that’s about who you know, and in some situations, what you know.

Work smarter, not harder.

Dependent on the sector?

I’ve seen the hard workers in the professions rewarded with promotions, pay hikes, eventually becoming bosses or then succeeding when going it alone.

 

[mile oak]

I know a few ppl from LA area never done a days work in their lives. Never will. They aint bothered. They appear to be doing allright for themselves and unless you wanna go 10 rounds with them you dont ask any question (why). Some ppl are very resourceful. Who am I to judge them.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

1984 I was on £52 per week as an apprentice and £12 per night working behind a bar. My apprentice pay went up £10 per week each year.

Whilst I have usually earned an okay wage I had a temp summer job immediately upon graduation; I was working in the accounts department of a college. I took home something crap per hour. I had to process invoices and game across the invoice for me….at a lot more an hour. I think it was 3 and 5 pound an hour respectively but could be wrong. Now I have always considered myself determined, hard working and also professional…. but I went to the agency at the end of the week, quit the job and signed on. It’s a horrible feeling to be screwed over like this. My point is there must be many hard working people out there today who look at the current crap options and, like me in the very early 90s, think f*** that. I can empathise and understand .

 

[Pavilionaire]

We hear a lot about the importance of the triple lock, Winter Fuel Allowance, the unfairness of Inheritance Tax (particularly on the farmers), the state of the NHS (used predominately by the elderly) but hardly ever hear about the average house price being 8 x average earnings compared to 4 x earnings 30-odd years ago.

With tuition fee rises, high rents, student loans, the high cost of living and now the NMW/NLW/NI hikes the young are really copping it, and if they haven't got family capital to bail them out then they are struggling. Then there is the uncertainty of how AI will affect the job market.

If - like me - you are a parent of teenagers and you compare this situation to how it was 30/40 years ago it is scary. Back then the world was our oyster - full student grant, cobble together a few grand and you've got a deposit on a flat. Now the world is just plain scary.

 

[portlock seagull]

I know a few ppl from LA area never done a days work in their lives. Never will. They aint bothered. They appear to be doing allright for themselves and unless you wanna go 10 rounds with them you dont ask any question (why). Some ppl are very resourceful. Who am I to judge them.

Drug pushers in other words?!

 

[BadFish]

We hear a lot about the importance of the triple lock, Winter Fuel Allowance, the unfairness of Inheritance Tax (particularly on the farmers), the state of the NHS (used predominately by the elderly) but hardly ever hear about the average house price being 8 x average earnings compared to 4 x earnings 30-odd years ago.

With tuition fee rises, high rents, student loans, the high cost of living and now the NMW/NLW/NI hikes the young are really copping it, and if they haven't got family capital to bail them out then they are struggling. Then there is the uncertainty of how AI will affect the job market.

If - like me - you are a parent of teenagers and you compare this situation to how it was 30/40 years ago it is scary. Back then the world was our oyster - full student grant, cobble together a few grand and you've got a deposit on a flat. Now the world is just plain scary.

What the youth of today can achieve through hard work is a lot different to what we could.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I know a few ppl from LA area never done a days work in their lives. Never will. They aint bothered. They appear to be doing allright for themselves and unless you wanna go 10 rounds with them you dont ask any question (why). Some ppl are very resourceful. Who am I to judge them.

Buy-2-Let landlords?

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Whilst I have usually earned an okay wage I had a temp summer job immediately upon graduation; I was working in the accounts department of a college. I took home something crap per hour. I had to process invoices and game across the invoice for me….at a lot more an hour. I think it was 3 and 5 pound an hour respectively but could be wrong. Now I have always considered myself determined, hard working and also professional…. but I went to the agency at the end of the week, quit the job and signed on. It’s a horrible feeling to be screwed over like this. My point is there must be many hard working people out there today who look at the current crap options and, like me in the very early 90s, think f*** that. I can empathise and understand .

I did exactly the same when I got a job at Acres the Bakers in Woodingdene after graduation. I quit not so much about the money, but because of the bullying scum that worked there. I laughed years later when I saw the place derelict and, later, bulldozed.

Luckily after a couple of weeks on the dole I got a job behind the bar at the Pav Tav.

Took another couple of years before I found a PhD place - in Vancouver. Meanwhile, moves to Crawley and Edgeware and three more jobs before lift-off. Cleaning airplanes at Gatwick lasted a week. Working in a publishing house near 7 Dials (as in the Agatha Christie 7 Dials) was fun.