In these uncertain times there are going to be some very tough decisions and some very unhappy people, but that is what has to happen in a lot of cases to allow companies and corporations to weather the current crisis such that when the markets regain their strength these same companies will be able to re-employ personnel and continue to provide a livelihood for their employees and shareholders.
The efforts of these companies in the short term to reduce costs may be seen as a necessary evil but if they are not conducted in the correct manner then these companies run the risk of damaging their infrastructure to such an extent that they may not be able to recover even when the current pressure is removed.
The way that a manager behaves towards the workforce characterises the way that the workforce feel about what they do and without taking care the manager can change the way that the workforce feel about what they do.
This is the sort of change that occurs with monotonous regularity in industry. A caring and productive workforce is changed into one that turns up for the pay check and has no other interest in being there. When this happens the value of what is left of the company is considerably less than the sum of the parts.
At the end of the Cold War the armed forces were told that there would be a restructuring process. Everybody knew that this meant redundancies, we had won the war without a shot being fired and now it was time to stand down. The powers that be would not admit that the reason for the restructuring was to make redundancies and when the redundancies came they acted as if they were truly surprised.
To the One Hundred Thousand or so men being made redundant this did not change the fact of their redundancies but it sent the clear message that the people who ran the Royal Navy, Air Force and Army were no longer people to be trusted and that there was no honour in continuing to serve them.
For their Lordships the way that redundant Soldiers Sailors and Airmen felt was of no consequence because they were no longer on the strength. But the following year what went around came around. The year following the final tranche of redundancies the armed forces suddenly found that even at one third of their previous strength they could not recruit sufficient people to fill their requirement. That years recruiting was disastrous and only by spending a small fortune on advertising were they able to bring the numbers up to a level that sustained their new reduced strength.
What they had forgotten was that before anyone joins the services, or any company, they will look for someone who is already there and ask them what it is like to work there, and the story they hear is the story that they will believe.
The Armed Forces and British Airways all suffered the same fate. They lost the trust of their workforces. By failing to take care of their personnel during the redundancies they turned their former employees against them and made it extremely difficult and expensive to recover from the position they had put themselves in.
In most cases the difference between feeling discarded and feeling respected is no more than a kind word and a handshake but for many managers that is still too much for them to do. This cautionary tale is for those managers. It is their organisations who will suffer when business resumes if they don't take care of their people now.
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