'Job hopping' at heart of Thai labour crisis

The story states that, “More than a third (35 per cent) admit that they actively look for new jobs even when happy in their current ones.” This is not news to most employers in Thailand, since Thai people are “job hoppers”. 

You could say the real reason for this is that the jobs in Thailand are not very good and do not pay well, so that there is no loss in changing jobs. Also, many Thai companies are family-run and there is not much opportunity for “outsiders”. However, these excuses beg the question of why the employees took jobs there in the first place and, if they change jobs often, why they continue to make the same mistake over and over again? At the very least they waste a lot of time by not doing any research.

Your article states that in Thailand “more than three-quarters (81 per cent) say experience with multiple employers is an asset in their career development.” Anyone would be shocked at this statistic unless they had actually run or managed a business in Thailand.

In the West and Japan, most people believe it is best to do homework on your choice of employer and to try to advance yourself there. Contrary to the Thai survey results, there is no way you can “advance your career” by constantly changing jobs, since you are not building up credit anywhere.  In other countries, prospective employers wonders about an applicant who cannot stay at a job.

I believe the reason the majority people change their jobs is that they are not competent at them, and by constantly “changing jobs” it seemingly never catches up with you, since you’ve moved on before the negative performance becomes apparent. 

Another problem with this mentality is that it is a waste of money for companies to make an investment in training people if “81 per cent” plan to leave. So you get a vicious cycle of an untrained work force.

The labour crisis facing Thailand is a big problem for its economic development. The Labour Law, which is very unpopular with foreign companies, basically makes it impossible to fire someone, because there are no grounds listed for lawful termination. The Labour Law also imposes big severance requirements, which means an employer has to think twice before hiring someone. 

The other part of the crisis is the lack of skilled workers. Many workers are now returning to their prospering home countries, such as Myanmar and Cambodia, so factory workers here are in constant shortage.

Let’s go the hop

Bangkok