Back to Basics: Looking for good help
Written by Charles Baugher | | letters@toledofreepress.comIf you talk to any business owner or manager, they usually state that the hardest part of their job is finding, what is referred to as “good help”. Most companies (I know, not all) offer advancement, well above average wages, and decent benefits for anyone who is willing to work hard and take care of people. It has nothing to do with unions, or evil corporations abusing their employees. This is a false dichotomy produced by a media culture that sees things in terms of polar opposites. It has to do with the fact that we have lost our good old fashioned Christian work ethic in NW Ohio and other dying post industrial areas. While the causes are complex and deep, placing blame will not provide a solution. Only a change of heart at the grassroots level will. This is something that used to be done by the churches and within the home, but we have lost that as well.
Charles Baugher
I may be sounding nostalgic and painting yesteryear as some sort of utopia. But I cannot help looking into Toledo’s history to a time where the population was double what it is today and business had “help wanted” signs everywhere. It was a time where one could leave high school and if they were willing to work, make a good living for themselves. My how times have changed! As is well known, we have been on a slide (or have hit bottom) in nearly every measurable category for nearly four decades. Meanwhile, other areas usually in the south or west have remained fairly stable or are even growing before, during, and after what has been dubbed the “Great Recession”. Toledo has yet to see this revitalizing spark, and will not until we reclaim our good old fashioned Christian work ethic. We blame the politicians, unions, schools, corporations, and everything that has a semi-public presence. This is because we deny the deeper problem, and that is one deep within ourselves.
I know some would argue that per capita, worker productivity has never been higher. This national statistic reflects the productivity increases that come from a complex variety of factors including robotics, automation, and computers that have increased worker efficiency. It also reflects a highly trained work force. I am not arguing that this is not true. I am arguing that it is not true in Toledo. Not in Detroit. Not in Cleveland. And it will not happen until we reinstall in ourselves the same mentality and ethic that built this country.
I know the age old notion of working hard, loving your family, and loving your God is cliché. However, this attitude not only creates people who are productive for their employer, but the type of people who also start their own factories and businesses. It produces a spiral of productivity, job creation, and then good wages that grow an economy. We have believed a myth that companies magically appear, or move into an area, thus completely transforming the local economy. However, a look at American history shows that companies are built, created, and grown from the inside. This can only happen when a group of hard workers get together. History shows us that strong economies are built upward from the inside, not drug in from the outside. And neither will happen until us as a community reclaims our former ethic. While not popular today, it was those same ethics that built this community, our churches, our schools, and our families. Waiting for some to hand us economy will get us nowhere.
My intention here is not to generalize or to oversimplify the terribly complex problem of a community in decline like Toledo or Detroit. I also fully understand that when companies like Dana and O-I are willing to spend millions just to move a few miles down the road to escape Toledo, does not help. I understand that the problem is multi-faceted and will need a comprehensive approach. However, we need to stop dwelling in the past. Instead, we need to understand that a change in attitude is one (but not all) crucial building block for our return. Nor is my intention to make assumptions or generalizations about the entire population, claiming they are this way or that. Instead, I am dreaming about what we could be. I am calling all of us to be something greater. Until we are willing to stop outward finger pointing and instead do the hard work of looking inward, we will never move forward. Blame is not a virtue. Using our talents, gifts, and work ethic for the benefit of ourselves, our God, and our community is.
Charles Baugher was born in Kansas City, MO and moved to Toledo while a teenager. He is married and a proud father of three children. He graduated from Rogers High School, then Lourdes College with a BA in Theology. He is currently serving Calvary United Methodist Church and studying for a Master of Divinity Degree at Methodist Theological School in Ohio.
Tags: Back to Basics, Charles Baugher, Opinion
I know that some of what you say is true but many people who have lost jobs, worked very hard for many years and feel they have been sold out for supposedly cheaper costs for many companies who have left this area.
This comment was posted on February 6th, 2011 at 11:19 pmThose I know personally have been looking steadily for many years to find a job replacement and all they can find are menial jobs paying minimum wages. Have you ever tried to pay the bills with minimum wages?
There are no jobs for hard workers without college degrees. Those days are long gone. The competition for most any job has gotten so rough that even those with degrees are competing for those minimum wage jobs. It so hard that many give up. That is not laziness, that is just accepting reality.
Hello Cathy,
This comment was posted on February 10th, 2011 at 4:52 pmMy heart goes out to the unemployed and the working poor. I think the idea of the article was not to lay blame, but a call for us all to make Toledo great again. So much of the discourse today is about blaming and naming. Very little is about working to be the best we can be and rebuild, so that we dont have unemployed anymore. Kind of along the lines of “Ask not what your community can do for you, but what you can do for your community”. It is also very hard for the college educated to find employment here, that is how we have become known as one of the major “brain drain” cities. Its not about liberal vs. conservative, or union vs. corperation, employee vs. employer. Its about rebuilding, which Toledo has no choice but to do.
With no college education I would think it hard to find a good job these days, but after 35 years with the same company I am able to say “Some companies still reward loyalty and hard work”. It is unfortunate that the “college educated bean counters” are overlooking what made this country great, hard work and pride in a job well done.
This comment was posted on February 12th, 2011 at 9:25 pmWe may not make as money as we want, but we will be able to provide for our families.
The most common answer I receive from entry level applicants is “I can make more money on unemployment”.
I am proud to say my children have the same work ethic and will not be out of a job for long, should they find themselves unemployed. They will work to survive and support their families, because they are not “too good” to work for a living.