52 replies to this topic

[THAJEC]

This is question not only for owners of bars, but for everybody who can write his experience.
When I talked last period with several compatrion and owners beer bars, everybody of them complain about hard give work to thai girls. (bar girls, cleaners, ). My friends claimed, that these people were stubborn and almost never made their work properly.
Is it really hard make business in Thailand from this view ?

[ingo67]

And how much are they being paid......peanuts........you get monkeys (quite literally)

[THAJEC]

And how much are they being paid......peanuts........you get monkeys (quite literally)

555. Some bad experience ingo67 ? I listened they are so little abuse that farang can not work and farang have to give work to thai people.

[MasterHawk]

You get what you pay for. Show us their salary slip ...

[LaaMok]

They are not all the same, but there is a different work ethic in Thailand, and we are dealing with unskilled labourers from the village, that often lie around all day between harvests. If you get a worker that is incompetent, lazy or irresponsible, then you should replace them.

We have tried paying more to some of them, and they start feeling they are worth more, and want more and get more lazy.

Our best worker gets special privilages which can easily be removed, it keeps her on her toes.

[THAJEC]

You get what you pay for. Show us their salary slip ...

I do not think it's just about salary, but the approach and mentality of the workers. They were based on information that I have paid well but did not work as they had. There was no reliance on them.

[THAJEC]

They are not all the same, but there is a different work ethic in Thailand, and we are dealing with unskilled labourers from the village, that often lie around all day between harvests. If you get a worker that is incompetent, lazy or irresponsible, then you should replace them.

We have tried paying more to some of them, and they start feeling they are worth more, and want more and get more lazy.

Our best worker gets special privilages which can easily be removed, it keeps her on her toes.

I think you captured it LaaMok. The description is accurate. Course, no one is perfect and especially in Thailand and some people just not their imperfection. Instead, I experienced what a girl sold in international trade company and was too much a perfectionist. The work was all for her. In any case, I did not want to laziness and inability to generalize.

Edited by THAJEC, 01 July 2012 - 03:00 PM.

[Steven B'stard]

I no a bar owner who says he has to keep on top of his staff 24/7 or they just take the piss at every opportunity.

[docwho]

I would say in general they will try and do as less as they can and they certainly have a different work ethic than us.
Getting good staff is crucial to your business in Thailand in my experience and surprisingly it's not easy sometimes when recruiting.
You sometimes are like a social worker come doctor - some turn up then want to go home as they have period pains, some have jealous Thai boyfriends hassling them constantly, some have family members that all of sudden develop terminal cancer while you are down at your suppliers - it goes on and on, but then all of a sudden you get a good one and you have to look after them and give them an incentive.
Staffing aint easy thats for sure.

[brainhack]

According to what I have heard from someone starting a web development agency in Bangkok, things are slowly changing. That is for people who have some education, or has managed to work their way up in the web business.

One of the managers is half thai, and according to him it is a change with generations, some of their workers are smart, able to work independently, and has more in common with other people doing web developmen internationally than local thais.

Motivating people anywhere is also work, just paying is seldom enough - especially if you pay too much and expect that that is all there is to it!

[THAJEC]

I would say in general they will try and do as less as they can and they certainly have a different work ethic than us.
Getting good staff is crucial to your business in Thailand in my experience and surprisingly it's not easy sometimes when recruiting.
You sometimes are like a social worker come doctor - some turn up then want to go home as they have period pains, some have jealous Thai boyfriends hassling them constantly, some have family members that all of sudden develop terminal cancer while you are down at your suppliers - it goes on and on, but then all of a sudden you get a good one and you have to look after them and give them an incentive.
Staffing aint easy thats for sure.

Yes, human resources policies are difficult everywhere, but in this labor market must be particularly difficult. Even with all the sentiments of local people, their problems and work-rate, it takes a lot of patience.

[THAJEC]

According to what I have heard from someone starting a web development agency in Bangkok, things are slowly changing. That is for people who have some education, or has managed to work their way up in the web business.

One of the managers is half thai, and according to him it is a change with generations, some of their workers are smart, able to work independently, and has more in common with other people doing web developmen internationally than local thais.

Motivating people anywhere is also work, just paying is seldom enough - especially if you pay too much and expect that that is all there is to it!

It always will be about specific people and their personality and education. Higher education and their positions can really make the employee responsible person, who appreciates his job more than others. The bar scene I quite doubt about it.

[lei]

They used to say same thing about brazilians or even spanish where i live most of the time. Stereotyping is never accurate. I'm sure there's plenty of lazy dumb heads but also plenty of honest hard workers, other than in bar scene, that is.

Cheers, lei---

.

[eanto]

Are Thai employees lazy,irresponsible and incompetent ?

Only the good ones.

[simon46]

from swampy to pats we pass "the detroit of the east"

you know those selfishly driven pick ups well about 150,000+ make it to oz alone along with the driver attitude.

now they are built by thais and where are the austins, rovers, standards triumphs red robbos one out all outs etc.

yet the same bolshy brits stick a million nissans together no probs.

for the op thai, sustitute brits yanks aussies ruskies anyone else reads just the same.

[andy666]

You cannot generalize, people are individuals! To give you an example, i heard that the cleaning lady at the Sapphire Lodge does a great job and she is doing a lot more than what the managers expected her to do when they first hired her. You see, you also have hardworking Thai women....

[TDCNINJA]

Are Thai employees lazy,irresponsible and incompetent ?

You're thinking of Filipinos

[THAJEC]

You cannot generalize, people are individuals! To give you an example, i heard that the cleaning lady at the Sapphire Lodge does a great job and she is doing a lot more than what the managers expected her to do when they first hired her. You see, you also have hardworking Thai women....

Yes I agree buddy, your opinion is of course valid, but I had some information that would be what percentage of those will do as they work more than usual. But who knows. Working in this heat is not easy.

[THAJEC]

You're thinking of Filipinos

Do you want to say that Filipinos are at work even worse than the Thais? This perhaps is not possible

[jerry]

A lot of them are and that's exactly the reason why i'm not gonna start a business here .

[stevxpl]

It comes down to the individual not the nationality, I also found that income had very little to do with work ethic with the Thais I employed.

The thing that did increase laziness was time that the individual was employed for and that was due to the archaic labour laws they have here in Thailand where after 3 years of service the employee is entitled to 6 months severance pay and due to the Labour Dept. always favoring the employee regardless of the reason for dismissal the company usually has to pay out severance pay... more so if a foreign manager is involved.

And the Thai employees know this and if they are that way inclined will push hard to get a wrongful dismissal claim to get severance to the point they will do just above what could be defined as refusing work but no where near a level that meets production requirements forcing the employer to dismiss them. You will give them the required formal warnings, follow the companies work rules which are approved by the Labour Department and in some cases going much further to try and turn the employee around and can show this but at the end of the day the Labour Department will award severance pay.

Its the only instance where loss of face to the Thai doesn't matter, where all the other employees are busting their arses off but the lazy fucker will just sit around barely doing anything waiting out the company to sack their lazy arse so they can get a payout. But then again the other employees are not part of that individuals inner circle so he/she doesn't give a fuck.

So to answer the OPs question. Depends on the individual but when a Thai is lazy that individual could practically re-define the word lazy by their actions or lack of. This opinion is based on experiences from working with Thais in industry and not uneducated farmers from Isan who work a couple of weeks ever 6 or so months.

[stevxpl]

You're thinking of Filipinos

No, I think that best describes the people of Brunei where it was once explained to me that if breathing was not a natural reaction they wouldn't do it.

[stevxpl]

A lot of them are and that's exactly the reason why i'm not gonna start a business here .

That would only be one reason I wouldn't start another business here... general competitiveness within the region is falling fast due to Labour laws, restrictive business laws/practices, unstable government policies/planning, lack of English language and quality education levels within the workforce and the rest of the region pushing hard to bring investment in with workers that want to work at all levels. The only thing Thailand has going for it is infrastructure which the two countries (Vietnam and Burma) that will take over from Thailand are putting plans into action to create far better infrastructure than Thailand could ever dream of. FFS Thailand's rail system is a joke because the rail unions won't allow any changes to upgrade its own infrastructure or increase productivity and the government has been powerless to do anything for years.

Opps I'm starting to rant a little too much here.

[jerry]

You're right Steve , there's a lot more reasons why you better don't start a business in Thailand .

[jinx]

I no a bar owner who says he has to keep on top of his staff 24/7 or they just take the piss at every opportunity.

I think I know who you are talking about, he will not take any shit from them, hence he has one of the best bars in Thailand and its not even a girlie Bar. He will not take any shit from falangs either.