Work ethic

Posted: 27 Feb 2011 08:09 PM PST
Greece and all the countries that are facing serious economic issues will not have a chance of solving their problems unless they improve their work ethic.
Twenty years of socialism and 7 years of incompetent neo-socialism has destroyed all the Greek work ethic.
It took the virtual bankruptcy of the country and the soaring unemployement to wake up the youth of Greece from the lethargy of the past philosophy of entitlement and start emigrating abroad to find jobs. This emigration is different from the previous one in the 50's where hundreds of thousand of starving, uneducated Greek farmers emigrated to Germany, Belgium, Australia, Canada and the US to work in menial jobs in factories or coal mines etc. This time educated young people are emigrating to find jobs in financial institutions or corporates.
The collateral benefit of this emigration wave is that they will learn in their jobs abroad, through observation and experience what work ethic is, and if they decide to eventually return back to Greece at one point in the future,, they will bring back this very important ethic, the work ethic, and then the economy of Greece will surely take off
Work ethic is not working long hours.
Work ethic is to respect the work you do and get personal satisfaction and pride in doing a good job, with little or no supervision.
Work ethic is to stand true to your commitments to yourself first, then to your team and your supervisor with integrity, without lies and excuses.
Work ethic is developed at home by example from parents/family, school and from bosses, partners, friends etc. Either you have it or you don't. Work ethic is not a seasonal or part time value or exhibited when one feels like it or uses it as a last resort. When you have it its a 24/7, 365 day a year behaviour that is exhibited in all circumstances.
My view is, no matter how low the government is going to cut the Greek salaries, if they do not improve the work ethic of the workforce from CEO down to the front line people, nothing is going to be accomplished.