In Tough Times, Abandon Your Employees
Henry Blodget's excellent piece on short-term greed got me thinking about a very basic question: do companies owe their employees loyalty when the economy gets tough?
For some time, I've been appalled that major companies are simultaneously laying off employees and reporting record profits. The picture differs depending on where you live and work, but that's a fairly common trend.
Contrast, for example, CNNMoney's report at the beginning of this year, Hey Wall Street, Get Ready for More Layoffs with John Cassidy's July 16 story, which starts like this:
What do these large dollar numbers have in common: $6.5 billion, $5.5 billion, $4.2 billion, and $1.9 billion? They represent the latest quarterly net profits made by too-big-to-fail banks—in order, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, and Goldman Sachs.
Now imagine that your company has been growing quickly, and that the culture of the company is to expect employees to step up when challenges and opportunities emerge. If there is an important pitch coming up, you are expected to stay late or work over the weekend. If there is an important order to fill, you are expected to work until the order gets filled.
You work hard. You step up. You are a hard-working and loyal employee. You recruit your friends to come work at your company; you put your personal reputation on the line.
Then the economy hits a rough patch. The company lets you go; two months later, they announce record profits.
Is that the right way to do business?
I understand that companies are not charities, and that they can't exist forever paying out more in wages than they earn in revenues.
But it strikes me as horribly short-sighted for a company to simultaneously report record profits and fire loyal employees. But some will argue that companies are here to make money for their investors, and that such moves are entirely warranted.
That's why I'm calling on companies that employ this strategy to make it obvious. I suggest they band together under the banner, "Profits before People". In fact, to make this easier, I've created a few simple ads they could run to attract more investors.
I'm not trying to be cute or clever. If this is an intelligent and proper strategy, why shouldn't companies formally declare that they follow it?
Take a look at my crude examples, and create your own Profits before People art, then post links in the comments below.
On the other hand, if your company sticks by its employees in tough times, then PLEASE feel free to brag about that below... and please join our new LinkedIn group, Helpfull Professionals.
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For more from Bruce (@NowPossible), read his free online career guide or Smart Customers, Stupid Companies, visit his site, follow him on LinkedIn, or just check out his Slideshare business card below.
Image credit: Dariush M/Shutterstock
3 words people have used to describe me? Resilient. Tenacious. Indefatigable.
7yThe irony of corporations who expect employees to be loyal yet, give them the boot for the most insignificant salary.
3 words people have used to describe me? Resilient. Tenacious. Indefatigable.
7yI wish I had found this back in 2013 as I had abandoned the sinking ship of a company going through this rough patch... Of course they had to make it look good for acquisition. They cut some employees here and there. They cut management. They then cut employee pay and hired lower wage temps to fill space when necessary... When I raised issues in quality, the response was always, "let the customer decide." Well, the customer became hundreds, became thousands of refunded, remade, reshipped products, lost accounts and Nasty reviews. Then I was told my job was obsolete. "Most customers aren't going to notice a blurry bit or white dot." They will. They do. Don't hand me a garden hose to put out fire on a skyscraper after ignoring the electricians instructions. Listen to the electrician and let him do his job. No fire need be lit.
CFO Eumundi Group Limited
9yThe change needs to happen in the legal structures surrounding investment. Until we change investment mechanisms, profit at the expense of all else will prevail. We are already watching the next generation evade the stock market and traditional forms of capitalisation by using the internet to invest. In that environment ethics like environmental concern and loyalty might find a place as it is hyper-connected to social media where opinions do matter and reputaions can be swept aside my mass condemnation within hours. My prediction is that new forms of interconnected investment mechanisms will swell exponentially in the next decade and corporations may well become increasingly outmoded, fragile and scorned by their investors, their emplyees and their customers.
Farm Manager at Emmanuel Christian College
10yMUNDUA GRISIM, a farm manager at Emmanuel Christian College, workers are the core values of any business, therefore without them, the business is no more but laying some of the workers out for the sustainability of the business is afirmative.
Co Founder - Whirl Recycling
10yPeople who produce the goods don't get fired.