[fleddr]

No. The workplace isn't there to teach you basic discipline, good faith effort, self-control over your urges and basic reliability. These things are to be expected from the very start. For every generation. This is the first to fail this lowest of all tests.

There are no mysteries here about what to do or how to behave. When you work at a place, you do the work. You show up and do the work. That's it. It's not a skill problem, it's a behavioral problem.

Are there larger forces at work causing this? Yes. Overprotective and distant parenting. Pampering. Addictive tech. Zero effort convenience services. No hardships. No accountability. No social skills. Spending 18 years of your life on easy mode, and then being plunged into the real world.

[wingely]

I think we fundamentally disagree about this. Teaching those skills is what an entry level job is supposed to do for someone. Then they level up, make mistakes, and learn some more as they gain experience in their profession.

It sounds like the argument you are pushing is that anyone but the business owner is at fault for what employees know and how they behave. While some of that is true, it’s disingenuous to demand that employees will come in knowing what a business owner expects out of them or have the context specific skills to do a job. Reflect on your own experiences here. Can you genuinely state that your personal work history shows a perfect employee who always knew what to do? C’mon. Be real.

[fleddr]

You're overthinking the situation here.

We're talking about a job where you attend a machine, feed it things and push 3 buttons. We're talking about picking orders. Here's the order. Collect it. And do this for 8 hours per day.

I started doing simple jobs at the age of 11. Here's a car. Wash it. Here's bricks, bring them to the brick laying guy. I think I would have understood those concepts at the age of 6.

There's no unclarity about expectations. A job surely is not some alien concept where at the age of 18 the very idea of work is unheard of?

It's not a skill issue, it's work ethic, and behavior. You're paid to work, not to be on your phone.

[wingely]

That’s a cute reduction, but the case being made doesn’t account for workers being humans in an ever evolving society. A job is, in fact, an alien concept to someone who has never had one before. And even people who have had jobs may have never been trained in a way that works for all employers. You’re making a moral judgment against the people with the least power in the employer-employee relationship. If a business owner wants the big bucks then their work ethic should be reflected in the training and care they take when bringing in new employees. What you’re talking about is closer to slavery than employment.