Economic depression and the common employee
The economic depression that has gripped the whole world now, continues to worsen with each passing day. The stock markets are down, the economic indicator graphs like GDP, IIP, etc are all on their way south. Each day we come across numerous headlines of job cuts in the companies, companies freezing the pay hikes of their employees, withholding spending on projects and embarking on massive cost cutting exercises.
In short, the companies that were so bullish till yesterday are on the back-foot now and trying to devise survival strategies to keep themselves afloat. One has heard of a reputed steel company in India, barring all “common-folks” of the company from travelling by air during any official work. Restriction on mobile bills of the employees is another option being used to beat cost increases. Then I heard one of my friends and head of a new business venture of a company making a passionate plea in front of the promoters of his business group that the only way of saving the company was by ensuring that he resigned from the company!
Its amazing how companies seem to have suddenly woken up and realized that the bullish attitude that they had been nurturing for the last 6-7 years were all a mirage! When the market was good and profits came in automatically without anyone having to do anything, all was hunky-dory! There were no problems anywhere and the executives at the top bathed in the halo that the shareholders/promoters of the company seemed to have crowned them with. They took pride in the fact that they had an inkling of the good times to come in future and how the world was full of opportunities which they were trying to tap in the best way possible. Profits soared and so did the confidence of the chairmen and MDs. They began to consider themselves invincible and perfect judges of the market fundamentals. Customers, for once, could be ignored and their pleas unheard. Employees were meant to be wooed and pampered. Companies announced new business ventures, new acquisitions and hiring of new employees became the name of the game.
Then came the crash. It was so sudden that the earth simply vanished from below the feet overnight. No one knew what was happening before the big wave of economic gloom came and swept everything faway from its path. People who had remained heavily invested in the stock markets became paupers over-night, acquisitions that had been the toast of the board rooms till yesterday, suddenly began to look like a bad decision and a nightmare! One bank after the other collapsed and there was no money left in circulation to provide the impetus for the growth of companies. All decisions that had been hailed and applauded as a master-piece in the board rooms a few days/months back, began to appear like a mad man’s rhetoric. The halo refused to even blink as profits nose-dived fast and companies all over the world suddenly woke up to the harsh reality of a market-driven economy!
Something had to be done fast and so the big names of the even bigger reputed companies swung into action! It was time to change gear and devise new strategies! The corporate MDs/ Directors who till yesterday were flying around in their private jets and had got used to doing business in mid-air, found that the ground beneath their feet were slipping away fast. In desperation, cost-cutting measures were announced in a desperte bid to protect share-holders' margins and their own credibility. The share-holders and promoters’ money had to remain safe, no matter what happens. If it meant having to sacrifice a few employees, so be it. If it meant having to freeze wages of the employees, it is fine! If it meant having to put the employees through lot of pain and displeasure, so be it! After all, employees are the most disposable of the assets. Employees were the soldiers in the battle-field, meant to fight and lay down their lives so that the king lived to fight another battle. The bottom line should not be hurt as that will directly affect the salaries and bonuses of the MDs/people labelled as top-management.
So lives have been lost simply because a person has lost his job and doesn’t know how to take care of his family! Companies across the world continue to announce wage freezes/wage cuts that would remain effective for the next one-two years. Hundreds and thousands of people from all over the world, struggle to come to terms with the stigma of the “pink-slip”. A courageous few among them try to pick up the broken pieces and begin to build anew. Wives and partners start to share extra load so that the family can face the depression slightly better!
In between all these, the promoters/share-holders of the company live to fight another battle on another day. All those who considered themselves crack strategists and prided themselves with knowing all about the behaviour of the markets, continue their work albeit at a muted level. There has been no announcement in any newspaper about directors/MDs of the companies taking personal responsibility for the debacle and resigning from their posts. Am not sure whether any of the MDs/Chairmen of any company has personally written to their employees saying they were sorry for the present state of the company and how they had made a mistake and therefore feel sorry for putting the lives of so many employee in jeopardy? How many chairmen/MD or so called strategists of the company have taken the responsibility on their head and agreed for a deduction of penalty charges every month from their present wages for mis-reading the market?
In short, the companies that were so bullish till yesterday are on the back-foot now and trying to devise survival strategies to keep themselves afloat. One has heard of a reputed steel company in India, barring all “common-folks” of the company from travelling by air during any official work. Restriction on mobile bills of the employees is another option being used to beat cost increases. Then I heard one of my friends and head of a new business venture of a company making a passionate plea in front of the promoters of his business group that the only way of saving the company was by ensuring that he resigned from the company!
Its amazing how companies seem to have suddenly woken up and realized that the bullish attitude that they had been nurturing for the last 6-7 years were all a mirage! When the market was good and profits came in automatically without anyone having to do anything, all was hunky-dory! There were no problems anywhere and the executives at the top bathed in the halo that the shareholders/promoters of the company seemed to have crowned them with. They took pride in the fact that they had an inkling of the good times to come in future and how the world was full of opportunities which they were trying to tap in the best way possible. Profits soared and so did the confidence of the chairmen and MDs. They began to consider themselves invincible and perfect judges of the market fundamentals. Customers, for once, could be ignored and their pleas unheard. Employees were meant to be wooed and pampered. Companies announced new business ventures, new acquisitions and hiring of new employees became the name of the game.
Then came the crash. It was so sudden that the earth simply vanished from below the feet overnight. No one knew what was happening before the big wave of economic gloom came and swept everything faway from its path. People who had remained heavily invested in the stock markets became paupers over-night, acquisitions that had been the toast of the board rooms till yesterday, suddenly began to look like a bad decision and a nightmare! One bank after the other collapsed and there was no money left in circulation to provide the impetus for the growth of companies. All decisions that had been hailed and applauded as a master-piece in the board rooms a few days/months back, began to appear like a mad man’s rhetoric. The halo refused to even blink as profits nose-dived fast and companies all over the world suddenly woke up to the harsh reality of a market-driven economy!
Something had to be done fast and so the big names of the even bigger reputed companies swung into action! It was time to change gear and devise new strategies! The corporate MDs/ Directors who till yesterday were flying around in their private jets and had got used to doing business in mid-air, found that the ground beneath their feet were slipping away fast. In desperation, cost-cutting measures were announced in a desperte bid to protect share-holders' margins and their own credibility. The share-holders and promoters’ money had to remain safe, no matter what happens. If it meant having to sacrifice a few employees, so be it. If it meant having to freeze wages of the employees, it is fine! If it meant having to put the employees through lot of pain and displeasure, so be it! After all, employees are the most disposable of the assets. Employees were the soldiers in the battle-field, meant to fight and lay down their lives so that the king lived to fight another battle. The bottom line should not be hurt as that will directly affect the salaries and bonuses of the MDs/people labelled as top-management.
So lives have been lost simply because a person has lost his job and doesn’t know how to take care of his family! Companies across the world continue to announce wage freezes/wage cuts that would remain effective for the next one-two years. Hundreds and thousands of people from all over the world, struggle to come to terms with the stigma of the “pink-slip”. A courageous few among them try to pick up the broken pieces and begin to build anew. Wives and partners start to share extra load so that the family can face the depression slightly better!
In between all these, the promoters/share-holders of the company live to fight another battle on another day. All those who considered themselves crack strategists and prided themselves with knowing all about the behaviour of the markets, continue their work albeit at a muted level. There has been no announcement in any newspaper about directors/MDs of the companies taking personal responsibility for the debacle and resigning from their posts. Am not sure whether any of the MDs/Chairmen of any company has personally written to their employees saying they were sorry for the present state of the company and how they had made a mistake and therefore feel sorry for putting the lives of so many employee in jeopardy? How many chairmen/MD or so called strategists of the company have taken the responsibility on their head and agreed for a deduction of penalty charges every month from their present wages for mis-reading the market?
One of the greatest pitfalls, in my opinion, of a market driven economy is the fact that the winners are rewarded handsomely and get to take it all! The distribution of wealth/income is so unequal that the common folks end up being the worst sufferers when omething happens to their company. The common folk can only pray just like the lyrics of that famous song by kenny Rogers-" Thank you lord for my job, down at the factory!" Is there no way that market driven economy can take care of the common employees and sufficiently protect their interests before the top brass of the company is allowed to take business risks ? It is exactly such a situation that had been envisaged by Karl Marx when he propounded the theory of Communism and gave birth to that famous quote-"Workers of the world unite; You have nothing to lose but your chains!" Marx had probably visualised such a situation where the common man is the greatest sufferer of the dangerous games that the corporates play in order to shore up their wealth. However, I hope some lessons are learned from this economic depression to ensure that when the next depression hits the world, the number of suicides are reduced and a common employee doesn’t have to spend his days worrying whether he will be required in office tomorrow or not!
Comments
Post a Comment