Dr. Lwanga Martin Mwanje
A business that is doing well would naturally be expected to hire more workers to meet demand. Boom times normally go with looking for more hands to supply customers. However, in lean times, it would not be normal for most business to hire since after all there are struggling to makes sales.
Hiring would only make sense where those put on the payroll are expected to help the business rebound and make sales. Or the business is unique in that it has an unexpected demand peculiar to the times necessitating hiring more workers. Even as of now there are some business like those in telecom and certain medical supply services that are having more demand than they can handle. These business can hire.
This is not the case though for those business which were either completely shut down like bars, schools and universities or are only partially open, like many hotels due to curfew. Usually when times are lean and demand is low business have a number of choices to make dealing with workers.
First, there is the extreme measure where payroll is slashed, meaning staff are sent home right away because there are no longer enough sales to meet demand and afford them anymore. There are many examples worldwide we see taking that approach. As a result of the pandemic every now and then there is that company one finds laying off workers in mass.
Another approach though is the furlough system. This is where the business sends its workers on temporary leave as it waits for demand to pick up. Workers who are sent on furlough have the advantage of retaining a job that can still offer some benefits like health insurance without pressuring the business to meet their monthly payroll, as it can hardly do so, for lack of income. Meanwhile these workers can use that free time to engage in some other income generating tasks. Once the environment improves there are called and put back on payroll.
This week I was encouraged to notice that a number of hotels and lodges in Europe have resumed hiring with business picking up as the lockdown is being eased. In some places demand for those eager to catch up on their vacation has shot up by 50%. Those business that had sent workers on furlough can now simply call their old workers back and pick up from where they left.
One advantage with furlough is that unlike mass lay offs once the business picks up you are using workers who were already familiar with the business and hence do not need training and orientation to learn their job. With furlough you do not endure the costs of hiring new workers with all the time it takes and new expectations.
If a business has to lay off workers, as some will inevitably have to do because demand may never pick up again, the manner in how it is done counts a lot. The fact is your laid off workers are in a sense your potential customers too. If they leave embittered because you short charged them they can ruin your business and minimize its chances of recovery through disinformation. I am aware of cases where laid off workers went out to sabotage their old employer. I would therefore advise that every business that has reached that stage of laying off workers bends us much as possible to see that it parts with its former staff on good terms.
Some business have in fact gone as far as offering counseling, job seeking and business training skills at their expense. There are others that have encouraged their former workers to pool resources, form companies and become priority suppliers of their old employer. When a business treats its old employees with due respect than merely casually pushing them out of the door, as one of those things, it creates good will in the market that can also save its fortunes from total ruin.
The times we are in are crisis times. As decisions are made whatever it means let us not forget that your staff are always your best resources. Even if you retain a few workers while hoping to hire more when demand picks up, remember that those who you choose to retain are seeing how those you let go, went out. If they no longer have faith in your ability to treat them humanely that could even derail chances of your business ever getting back on its feet.
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