A recent article by John Stancavage in the business section of Tulsa World titled Staying Focused at Work focused on a report released by the Oklahoma Department of Commerce that revealed that more than half of the companies surveyed for the report “were struggling to find people with a good work ethic. or that they can do their job without letting personal matters get in the way.” Even very basic skills were missing, such as being on time, staying on task, and adapting to change. Creating other problems, are employees who are always having one crisis or another that prevents them from getting to work on time or distracts them after they get in. All of these things affect productivity, and since employee productivity is credited with helping the United States remain competitive in the global marketplace and there are fewer applicants for each job, is an important issue to address.

“It’s not just staff members who have trouble staying on task,” Stancavage writes. “Managers do, too, though often for different reasons. A recent survey by New Hampshire-based NFI Research found that 67 percent of top executives complained that email distracts them from their jobs. Other problems included personal interruptions (31 percent) and changing priorities (30 percent).”

I guess I’ve officially gotten old because I found myself thinking “back in the day” when I read this. I applied for my first job as a waitress at our local small town restaurant when I was fifteen and a half years old. Thelma, the manager of the restaurant that hired me, said that she really shouldn’t hire anyone under 16, but we’d keep quiet about it. She knew my family and she thought I would be a good hire because I would have a good work ethic, and she was right. I stayed at that job all through high school, working weekends and summers until I went to college.

The work ethic that Thelma was so sure I possessed was learned from my parents. It included arriving at the restaurant about 15 minutes before my shift started so that when my shift started, I would be ready to go to work. That didn’t allow for much sleep after a night out with friends. It meant working around the clock, which included finding other things he needed to do when he wasn’t busy serving customers. Things like filling the salt and pepper shakers, cleaning tables and counters, sweeping, and even, once in a while, helping with the dishes. I was expected to keep up in a fast-paced environment while maintaining a positive, friendly attitude and sense of humor. Honesty not only applied to handling money and supplies, but also to taking no more than my two 15-minute breaks and one 30-minute meal break during my shift. Any personal problems I might be experiencing I would leave at home and when I got to work I was expected to focus only on work. I didn’t think twice about my work ethic. That’s how it went. Standing for most of an eight-hour shift was exhausting, but I was happy to have a job, earn my own money, buy my own car, and become more self-sufficient.

Today’s workplace may be much more complicated than my workplace of many years ago, but I believe the same principles of having a good work ethic apply. People should still show up to work on time, have a good day’s work, not take advantage of their employer, be honest, and leave their problems at home. What’s so hard about that? If you could do those things before you were old enough to get a driver’s license, then I think we should expect adults in today’s workplace to do the same.