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Doug's Articles
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I was slobbin' in my living room the other night watching a rerun of "Cold Case," a TV show that deals with past murders that have not yet been solved. (No, it's not a detective show in Alaska.) It had an eight year run and is now in syndication.
This episode was set in 1984, when four really good friends worked together in a Philadelphia textile plant. Economic times were tough and there was fear the plant would close. The CEO made a speech to the troops, however, trying to allay their fears, assuring them that neither he nor the plant was going anywhere.
One month later, the plant was closed and the CEO skipped town. Nice.
The show then focuses on these four friends and the desperation that followed when they lost their jobs suddenly, and frantically tried to scratch together livings for their families. Ultimately, their relationships were destroyed under the stress of it all and one, flailing in anger, accidentally killed another...thus the case to solve some twenty years later.
"Cold Case" is a TV show to be sure, but I've seen the same desperation, the same stress, the same panic in people who fear losing their jobs in real life. They feel like they are dangling by a fraying rope over the flames of hell.
For human beings to provide for their families, keep their homes and some sense of self-worth and pride, they need to have a job.
There are two kinds of companies. There are those who only lay off workers as a last resort, when the health of the whole will crumble if they don't act. Most employees can live with this, because they know their bosses are genuinely making every effort to keep them.
The second kind of company uses lay offs for balance and calibration. They use people as a tuning fork. If a certain quarter of a year projects slower than what they hoped, they will do some quick math and lay off whomever they need to so as to keep their labor percentages in line. They will then attempt to rehire when business increases.
On the surface and on paper, it's a sensible approach to making money. But when you use them for calibration, your employees are constantly on edge, constantly feeling the heat of hell on their heels. Any day could be the day they're let go. They are distracted, filled with angst, paranoia, constantly looking over their shoulders. Morale dips and trust in the leadership can find no footing. Loyalty and goodwill cannot survive...they have no place to germinate. Division and noncooperation enter; not just between labor and leaders, but between labor and labor as they find themselves vying not to be the next to go.
By this profits are lost.
High morale, loyalty, trust, goodwill, a sense of reasonable security and team cohesiveness are the engines of profitability. It's simply true. Over the long haul, what one gains through frequent calibrated lay offs, one loses ten-fold through the resulting less effective workforce.
Companies that use lay offs only as a last resort might at times carry a slightly bloated workforce than what would be optimum. But it's generally a temporary condition, and what they spend for a moment comes back to them in bunches by having a consistent, secure, productive workforce that is loyal and driven.
Maximum profitability cannot be achieved by trifling with people's lives. Fear is paralyzing, low morale is slow and unfocused, and disloyalty will never go the distance.
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Doug
Doug Cartland, President
Doug Cartland, Inc.
The ONLY Leadership Resource with Guaranteed Results!
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Doug@dougcartland.com
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