Don't you have a job to do?

When did people start losing their work ethic?  Being an extern at so many places this year has given me the opportunity to see a lot of different work environments and I have, at times, been appalled at the lack of motivation that people have.  I just can't understand how someone can be content sitting and doing absolutely nothing during their paid shift at work.  For one, it is pretty darn boring; doing almost anything, tedious or unexciting as it may be, passes the time better than doing nothing.  And secondly, most employers don't pay you just to do nothing; even if your specific tasks are done, doing something to help someone else or doing a task that's not "your job" would be a better use of your time (and by association, your employer's money).

Here's a scenario I'm finding repeats itself almost anywhere you go: someone has a set list of responsibilities, which they do very well for the first part of their shift.  But after they've done those things that are "their job," they just stop working.  Sure, they do things here and there, but the majority of the latter part of their shift is spent just sitting/standing there, chatting with coworkers (thereby distracting them from doing their own job), browsing their phone/email/the internet, or the thing that surprises me the most: absolutely nothing!  If I even try to do that, I go bored out of my mind!  When these chatty Cathy's pull me into a conversation, I try to be polite by chatting for a brief moment, but I always have this feeling of needing to get back to some task or another.  Working nights at Ostroms, even when it was dead slow and everything was caught up, I had to be doing something productive in some way, even if I was talking to coworkers at the same time (making copies, cleaning something, restocking, etc.)  There are times to relax when I'm happy doing absolutely nothing but socializing, but when I'm doing a job, especially if it's paid, that isn't an option to me. 

The worst for me is when I am reporting to someone who just sits there for half of their shift because in some situations, if they don't give me a task, I can't really do anything either.  I try to find things to do (usually reading about topics I don't know) but there comes a point when I can't do anything more and it is excruciatingly boring to just sit in a chair, mindlessly clicking around at a computer for 6 hours of an 8 hour shift.  Maybe preceptors that don't really do much themselves shouldn't take students; their doing nothing means the student doesn't have much to do or learn, plus it just shows the student how lazy and unmotivated they are.  (I try not to think about the fact that people like this get hired over people with good work ethics just because they've been there longer or they know someone, or they have a better resume…)

What makes it worse is when "your" job is done but other people are running around like headless chickens.  This happens in the ER a lot.  It can be really busy in terms of patient numbers but not in terms of difficult or critical patients.  There will inevitably be one or two people doing nothing because their patients are taken care of.  It would be a better use of their time and a really helpful thing for their coworkers if they did something, anything at all, that was productive whether it be cleaning up a blood spill, running to get supplies, getting vitals, or answering call lights for someone else's patients.

Scenarios like that also make me wonder if costs of services would go down if people worked harder.  If there's someone who doesn't really do anything for the last 2 hours of their shift, do they really need to be scheduled that long?  If a nurse delegates her tasks to a technician and then sits and gossips for half an hour, do they really need to pay that many nurses at a time?  As an employer, I wouldn't expect people to work themselves ragged non-stop for their whole shift (because there are busier times and times that are more relaxed – that balance is necessary for sanity during the crazy times), but I would expect that if they have some down time they do something, insignificant or simple as it may be, as long as it is in some way productive.

I guess I'll never understand why people that don't have a work ethic are that way.  Though they might not have the technical skills, I can name a ton of 14-18 year olds (camp staff) that could do a much better job than people I see in the workforce.  At camp, it's just expected that you keep yourself busy from 7:30 am to 10 pm.  If your job is done, you find somewhere else to help out or something else productive to do.  It's really too bad that that attitude isn't common in the general work force.  Wasting their employers' money aside, I still just can't figure out how people can feel content (or not guilty in some way) doing absolutely nothing for periods of time at work.  It's frustrating for those that work hard (or want to but can't, because of the lazy-bums), but hopefully it is something that puts those hard workers ahead when it comes to hiring and consideration for leadership positions.  I guess that work ethic is one of the reasons that adults coming to Camp Parsons say they’ll hire any staff member in a heartbeat; it's not the norm and it's a desirable and valuable quality to have.