Saturday, February 14, 2009

Recessionary Woes

More and more people and companies are seeking help via day job office
with what is sometimes euphamistically called "down sizing".

In reality this means
for individuals parting company with their employers on the
best possible terms bearing in mind that leaving employment
compulsorily is never a happy experience. For companies it often means
these days, making hard decisions about who to make 'redundant' -
the legal euphamism for firing someone to save money.

Such help is normal enough even in good times but what is
tragically different in these bad financial times,
is that for some companies, the need to apply fair procedures for
redundancies is being overtaken by the absence of cash, leading to
the dreaded "Administrator" being called in while the fair procedures
are supposedly continuing, and maybe the complete
collapse of companies with total, unfair loss of employment for everyone.

The procedures for making people redundant "fairly" were designed
in relatively good financial times in the UK and allow for
weeks in some cases months even, of consultations before deciding who
is to go and who is to stay. So quickly are companies' lines of credit
and cash depleting that many are at risk of going under financially
before the fair procedures can be completed. This leads to
100% unemployment instead of say 20%.

Some requirements for achieving fair dismissals
are in the serious financial stress times we currently face, are
exacerbating unfairness, in that by having to be so
fair for the 20% both they and the 80% all lose their jobs.

Employment procedures need an emergency review by governments
to safeguard the very existence of many companies. Changes in
procedures need not be permanent. Like the emergency reduction
in VAT to 15% limited to 12 months, so any procedural changes
affecting individuals' job security rights warranted
in the interests of wider employment needs of the community
could be limited to 12 months or for the duration of the current
financial emergency

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