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21st HR Sharing – 6th March 2009
Organizations are coming
to terms with the gloomy business outlook. 2009
presents itself as one of the most challenging years to companies
as well as individuals. The credit crisis is the worst financial
disaster since the great
depression, and companies are experiencing a sudden freefall in
businesses. HRmatters21 has been engaged by numerous companies to
provide counseling services, assist businesses to reduce costs and
at the same time to ensure no compromise in their competitiveness.
T. Vijay and Martin Gabriel came forward to share their experiences
in helping companies go through a retrenchment and observe the measures
taken by companies in reducing costs to ensure survival.
The Committee thought
that it was a good idea to share these experiences
at the 21st HR Sharing, a platform where HR professionals meet,
share
ideas and exchange information pertaining to Human Resources. Vijay,
who experienced being retrenched some years ago, related to the
participants about how retrenched personnel would go through various
stages from disbelief to trauma and loss of personal esteem and
how easy
it can be to slip into inactivity due to feeling lost. His presentation
helped HR Managers understand the emotional "roller coaster"
of feeling despondent, unimportant and worst of all, feeling helpless.
Vijay showed that in a Workshop, to be offered jointly with HRmattters21
and tailored specifically for such retrenched personnel, what the
methods are by which
retrenched personnel can overcome such negative mindsets, pick up
the
pieces and soldier on through various pursuits of employment, improving
their personal performances and up keeping of their sense of worth.
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Martin Gabriel has had the privilege
to insight information with regard to corporate behaviour prior
to a retrenchment. Martin described what measures companies resort
to, to curb spending and ensure long-term survival.
According to Martin,
significant numbers of companies scurry to reduce costs, oblivious
to the fact that their actions may affect their comparative advantage.
He cited an example of a company that laid-off
numerous numbers of staff that were trained in identifying the spare
parts
of a car, a skill that was scarce in tiny Singapore. Such skills
would be
sought after when the economy recovers and the said company that
laid-off their staff may then find difficulty in recruitment if
their competitors take the opportunity to recruit these affected
retrenched personnel. Thus, a company may find it hard to ride on
the recovery if it reacts too
quickly to retrenchment as a first resort to contain cost.
Snapshots from the 21st HR Sharing
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77.9%
19.3%
2.9%
