As a teenager looking for work in the early 1970s, I found my job prospects limited to the typical fast food and service jobs that most high school and college students have to endure. Those jobs were just as annoying and low paying then, as now, but there was a difference. With rare exceptions, most of the people I worked made an honest effort to perform their duties correctly. Looking back, I’m actually surprised at how hard we all worked and how much pride we took in a job well done. The same could be said of most adults I knew in those days as well.

The 1980s saw a marked change in employee behavior. On the job theft and a lack of productivity among workers on all levels suddenly became real concerns for employers. Lie detector tests and even background checks were added as necessary steps in the hiring process for many jobs. It became a ritual for customers who visited any one of the major fast food chain restaurants to check their bags. Drive Thru and over the counter order mistakes then, and now, have simply become a part of the fast food consumer experience. What happened to cause these changes? The answer is obvious, or is it?

There are job candidates out there today who have been brainwashed into believing that any potential employer is the enemy. These people have every intention of doing as little work as possible, while getting as much from their employer as they can. Such problem job seekers are the kind of applicants that give potential employers the cold sweats. That’s because they are harder to spot then you might think. Many are graduates from terrific schools with all sorts of fabulous recommendation letters, but is such a glowing resume really telling a prospective employer everything they need to know?

It’s been my experience that a person’s work ethic is revealed by any job they do. Someone who goofs off and does a half-hearted job while working at Burger King will do the same in every other paid position they ever get. It’s a matter of character and personal pride. Unfortunately, future employers are unlikely to find out about any character flaws that may affect a prospective employee’s future job performance. Thanks to privacy laws, it’s almost impossible for them to get any kind of an employee assessment. People who have performed in a less then stellar way at any job will probably just leave that one off their resume.

If poor character is part of the problem, public education must also take some of the blame for those who lack even the most basic of skills needed for good job performance. I have met more then my share of younger people working in the service industry who couldn’t count, read well or speak in a manner that would allow them to do their jobs correctly. The problem has become so great that some states now offer competency tests for first time job seekers in or just out of high school. Those who pass the tests are given a certification that they possess the basic language, math and reading skills needed to perform simple jobs or be further trained by employers.

Apart from problem job seekers, many employers are allowing clueless people to run their business into the ground. The service industry has become a textbook case study of this problem. They are allowing people with limited communication, math and language skills to represent their company. If you ask them about it, they’ll just spout off some public relations spin about giving everyone a chance to succeed. In reality, they have simply dropped the ball when it comes to effective supervision and management.

We all know businesses that offer consistently bad service. While we don’t say it, most consumers will avoid fast food restaurants which have short lines at lunchtime. That’s because any order we place will probably be screwed up and the food we do get may not be palatable. The same can be said of hotels where checking in or out is an ordeal, retail stores without enough cashiers or too many incompetent ones and mailing stores where sending a package requires an all day commitment of time.

Employers that accept poor job performance from their employees often believe that something is better then nothing. With a critical shortage of those willing to work minimum wage or low paying jobs, many employers have just thrown up their hands and taken what they can get. Fear of losing even one employee without much hope of finding an easy replacement, often means accepting a lower level of performance from their employees. For companies with that policy, doing some business is obviously better then doing good business.

American businesses have responded to a limited pool of applicants for lower paying and minimum wage jobs by lowering their standards. Instead of hiring competent managers who can properly train, supervisor and handle their employees, many companies have decided to accept whatever level of competency and job performance their employees choose to give them. In response to those kinds of policies, floor managers and supervisors feel abandoned and stressed out. When things go wrong, they get the brunt of customer anger brought about by a general lack of effective policies that define and demand satisfactory employee behavior.

The lowering of standards has brought about an failed policy. The idea that workers need to be enticed to do a good job, rather then be expected to. Many start up Internet and technology firms have tried to entice workers to ne more productive by offering all sorts of perks. They offer child care services, work at home programs and on the job health clinics. Some companies have even went a step further by making employees their partners. Despite all these mega perks, many Internet and technology firms are in as much or more trouble then the rest of the business world. Why?

Most companies that have tried to create a utopian work environment for their employees have run into some trouble. It seems that all these efforts have managed to increase employee productivity, but only among employees who were self-starters. Those workers who were already experts at goofing off have managed to use these new tools at their disposal to perfect the art of on-the-job laziness. Why? Because a lack of effective supervision and management means employees who have no real motivation to produce.

The lowering of standards has lead many companies to accept a certain level of employee incompetence. Sadly, these companies have made the mistake of believing that their customers will also accept that lowering of standards without abandoning them. However, slip shot service will catch up to any company as the major airlines, fast food chains, retail stores and major hotels have discovered. Many of them are losing money because of overworked, underpaid or badly trained employees.

The airlines keep pushing their employees to work more for less, always asking for give backs to help offset their own failures to manage and grow their companies. Always down sizing to try and achieve profitability, airlines refuse to hire enough full time employees to get the job done right. The now famous sick-out of the 2004 holiday season was the result of those policies and added to the animosity that already exists between many airline employees and the flying public. When given a choice, passengers are dumping established airlines for upstarts. It’s not just about the price, it’s about customer retaliation.

Fast food chains who refuse to properly train or manage their employees are seeing their customers return to more traditional food venues in the form of trendy restaurants with reasonable prices and family friendly atmospheres. People just get tired of throwing the fast food dice and hoping someone will get their order right.

It seems like the morning lines at the local convenience store just keeps getting longer while coffee goes unmade, restrooms are filthy and shelves are not restocked. At the same time, employees fumble at working the cash register, struggle to make simple change or talk on the phone while trying to add up purchases. The situation at larger retail outlets is different, but not much better.

How many times have you gone to a major retail store, looked for a common item and been told, “It’s coming in on the truck tomorrow.” Although most of the employees in stores like that are better trained and seem to make an honest effort to help, many lack product knowledge in the departments they are assigned to. Feeling that people will be willing to wait on check out lines, priority is given to serving those who buy higher ticket items at the electronics, sporting goods or jewelry counters. In their effort to put an end to mom and pop shops that compete with them as quickly as possible and gain the edge over other large retailers, many retail superstores have expanded beyond their ability to properly staff and stock their outlets.

In their constant effort to separate guests from their money, hotel chains have angered their guests by constantly adding new charges to their bill and offering less freebies. Experienced travelers cringe at the thought of allowing a hotel to swipe their credit cards knowing that double and over charges are a common part of the guest experience and can take months to fix. Then there’s always the fun of trying to get the best rate, finding empty front desks when you’re in a hurry or hoping against hope that a banquet or meeting room will actually be ready when it’s supposed to be.

If a business doesn’t have employees who are ready, willing and able to represent them well and serve the needs of customers, they can expect to lose their clientele to establishments that do. It may not happen overnight, but lackluster growth among many fast food and retail chains tells the tale. People are returning to smaller retail outlets that offer better service and eating at theme restaurants, despite the higher prices.

It’s a simple fact of business life that if you don’t exercise control over your staff, they will take control of you. The number one mistake most companies make when it comes to their employees is a consistent lack of competent supervision. Employees left to themselves will do what they want, when they want, the way they want and take their time doing it.

Supervisors and Managers need to be read the financial riot act. If they don’t produce, they don’t get the money they expect. If they do, rewards should be in place to encourage them to get with and implement your program. A good supervisor or manager who can motivate employees and get them to perform is worth their weight in gold. Too many businesses have supervisors or managers who are a part of the team, rather then in charge of it.

How many times have you faced a retail issue, bank account problem, order mistake or needed to speak with someone in authority and, instead, been handed over to a regular employee who had been left in charge. If you have, you know the frustration of dealing with someone who has no training, no decision making power and no brains! This is not what customers expect or what they deserve. Every time an unsupervised or poorly trained employee fails to act responsibly toward a customer, it’s the employer who loses big.

A good example of what happens when employees are left to make the majority of decisions without effective supervision is something that I experienced the other day. I walked into a major bagel shop chain around ten in the morning. After ordering, I was told they were out of most kinds of bagels. What? A bagel shop out of bagels? When I asked to see a manager, I was told he wasn’t there. Not only didn’t I get any bagels, but I also left without any satisfactory answers.

Proper supervision and effective management should permeate every level of your business. That includes you! If you’re a small business owner who resents spending a few extra hours on the job or dealing with a problem until it’s solved, then you shouldn’t be in business. And if you’re too busy to implement proper supervision of your employees and develop an effective management plan to be sure your customers are treated right the first time and every time, then you’re too busy!

Effective management means knowing exactly what you expect employees to do, training them to do it right and taking care of customer concerns and complaints as quickly and efficiently as possible. Proper supervision means making sure employees are performing the way you expect them to at all times, not just when they feel like it. In a day when mediocre service and poor product quality has come to be something we all expect, it will be those companies who rise above those expectations that will show a profit and gain the greater share of their market.