Blood Extraction from Onions

Blood Extraction from Onions

Paying attention to trends in the business climate as reported in our local newspapers' business sections will reveal a new paradigm in the world of business. It's strange that companies we know are doing well would suddenly lay off employees, even while the economy is doing well.

Layoffs are disruptive and emotionally taxing, as any person who has gone through them will attest. Compared to other periods in our business communities' history, studies on business trends show that large-scale layoffs have occurred more frequently in the past decade. One must therefore inquire: what has prompted this change in employer conduct?

This tremendous transformation in the nature of the employer-employee relationship cannot be adequately explained by monetary factors or rapid changes in the market, though these factors certainly play a role. The fundamental shift in thinking among business owners is the driving force behind this shift.

 

A mutually supportive contract has long been the basis for employer-employee relationships. Employers and employees have an understanding that the former will pay the latter and supply the latter with the necessities of life so that the latter can perform the former's job duties. In exchange, the worker promises to be dependable, provide quality work, and show up to work on time every day. This model is built on trust, encourages creativity, and supports each other.

A shift in the company's perspective on employees has led to a model built on layoffs, which in turn has changed the way businesses operate.

Employees are often seen by employers as a burden and an expense that they dislike. Since the boss does not consider employee perks like insurance and vacations to be his responsibility, he feels a great deal of anger towards them.

Workers in the old model were required to accomplish their jobs, but they should only do so out of gratitude for their income and nothing else. Thus, the business wants to alter the model from an employer perspective while keeping the employee side the same, since they anticipate the same return from the old model.

Reducing long-term benefits is possible through high workforce turnover. The need to increase wages, give vacations, and eventually provide retirement benefits is minimized when employers replace experienced staff with entry-level workers permanently.

According to this new paradigm, the pool of unemployed people is believed to have an endless supply of qualified workers. As a result, the human resource equation turns exploitative since present workers can be simply replaced with willing, jobless people.

While there is some sound economic reasoning behind this company model, the fundamental premise must hold true indefinitely for the model to be viable in the long run. However, this formula is valid only in a recession when there is a surplus of qualified workers. If the labor markets change and that large pool of replacement workers disappears, this strategy for human resource management could backfire spectacularly.

When managers take an exploitative tack with their staff, it undermines the trust that should exist between the two parties. When employees no longer feel supported by management, it can have a disastrous effect on morale, leading even the remaining employees to perform poorly. Because when morale is low and production across the board drops and stays low, the response "Well, then we will just fire those dead beats and get new ones" is not a viable option.

Because of this, companies will be unable to complete ongoing projects or provide customers with high-quality goods and services. Furthermore, when a company's exploitative treatment of employees leads to subpar goods and services for customers, the company will start to see a decline in its market share, which is a precursor to its eventual demise.

For our own and our employees' sakes, there is sufficient cause to reevaluate our company's business model of employment and to think again about restoring a trusting connection with our workforce. 

Share :