Economic crisis just an excuse...

[Max Preload]

Rocked over to see a mate of mine last night... etc. etc.

I thought you left?

[Max Preload]

...starting in about 1995 the great New Zealand Brain started to occur.

I've seen little evidence of any brain in New Zealand, much less a great one.

[Fatt Max]

I thought you left?

No, still around, just not as much....had to post this as it was rather topical I suppose

[BMWST?]

Any of you guys actually work in a small business, with the owner of said business?

[McDuck]

Any of you guys actually work in a small business, with the owner of said business?

Dose my dad count?

[Ocean1]

Any of you guys actually work in a small business, with the owner of said business?

Given that some 80% of business entities in NZ qualify as small I'd say most of them do.

[BMWST?]

Dose my dad count?

of course! I ask this because i do,and we have just gone onto a four day week.I assure you its a genuine cost saving measure because we dont have the work for a full week.It costs the business money NOT to be open so its not a ruse

[Mom]

Any of you guys actually work in a small business, with the owner of said business?

I own a small business

[Mom]

of course! I ask this because i do,and we have just gone onto a four day week.I assure you its a genuine cost saving measure because we dont have the work for a full week.It costs the business money NOT to be open so its not a ruse

It costs you money to only open 4 days a week? Hope the cost is less than being open 5 days a week?

[McDuck]

of course! I ask this because i do,and we have just gone onto a four day week.I assure you its a genuine cost saving measure because we dont have the work for a full week.It costs the business money NOT to be open so its not a ruse

My dad is a simmiler thing. Work is fickel (sp) and while there is enough to keep him going they are not making a large amount and have (about a yea ago) make redunt 2 employees. The two that went were the ones that worked slowly, had poor apperance, made mistakes and barely broke even. On the other hand the employee that he has kept on his worth his weight in gold, as a result he is on top pay, more holidays than the standerd and so far is the only employee (dad included) to get a new van.


A good employee is worth keeping, bad ones are a dime a dozzen.

[Fatt Max]

Any of you guys actually work in a small business, with the owner of said business?

Have done in the past and ridden the roller coaster.

However, this thread is aimed more at the big corporations (mostly aussie or, god forbid, US owned) that are using the whole crisis as a trigger to lump the profit.

Small business's are vunerable more so than the big, filth, piggy trough corporate scum. The small guys have their houses and lively hoods riding on their business and I respect these people for that.

But, the big pigs started this and it's us, workers and small busines owners, that will have to pay.

I was just wound up by what my mate said last night, poor sod. Mind you, he phoned earlier today and told me that he has a possibility of a start week after next at another firm so good on him.

Soapbox tucked away now, back to my book writing....

[1 Free Man]

Rocked over to see a mate of mine last night, he was a bit down after getting laid off from his job.

So, armed with a box of happy fizz and some of the Corromandels best, we sat down and chewed it over.

My mate made a very interesting observation. His company (an engineering firm, Aussie owned) have just picked up a huge contract worth a few million over 5 years. Now, all of a sudden, the firm is in trouble, wages are being cut, overtime gone and the last 5 guys in were outed.

His question was "Why the f**k has this happened?"

Good point because right now the firm is busier than ever.

His angle is that companies out there are using this economic climate as an excuse to cut the arse out of their costs and get more out of the people left. Yes, appreciate that times are hard but are these big compaines taking advantage of the situation to crunch the workforce?

And, are they using this as an excuse to get rid of workers that they dont want?

Tad scary thought, eh...

Wondered what you guys thought about that one....

Yep ya got it in a nutshell. The firm that I was working for had us all to a meeting on the wednesday and said that
" All was well and we could weather the storm. No worrys jobs were secure we were good."
Less than a week later a selected few, 11 of us, were told the firm was on shaky ground and the had to revisit the whole thing. I personally offered to go onto a 3 day week, to no avail.
Up shot of it was 6 of the more senior members of the shop floor staff were given the boot.
All of the asians, Parkys and darkys on the staff stayed.
Some of then had been there a matter of a few weeks.
Heard through the grapevine the company loves the asians because "they do as they are told, don't ask questions and will work for a bowl of rice." Quote the production manager. (Arsehole)
Funny thing was we were all KIWI's that lost our jobs.

The firm in question is New Zealand owned. It's not just off shore interests that are taking advantage of this situation

[trustme]

Freeman, you are better off out of it if that is the way they operate.
A generalisation but the Ockers are far more proactive in their management style than we are , we wait till the tidal wave hits us & then start to swim, Ockers tend to see the signs & don the water wings ahead of time. Aussies will never do us any favours so we should not be suprised at this sort of stuff.
Imagine if we were a nation of savers instead of spenders & actually invested in our own companies, we might still own the odd bank or insurance company, even a lunch bar would be nice.

[Ocean1]

A good employee is worth keeping, bad ones are a dime a dozzen.

They're actually $360,000.00 a dozen.

That's the trouble, right there.

[CookMySock]

It's standard practice to ride public feelings on things. If you sell a dairy-based product, and everyone is moaning about the price of dairy going up, then put your price up whether you have to or not. Same goes for fuel - if it is abundantly clear to everyone that you use a lot of fuel, put your prices up and point at fuel costs for the reason - everyone will believe you without question. Same applies for staff - if you WANT to ditch staff, and everyone is complaining about unemployment, then ditch them now and point at the "unemployment problem" as the cause of it. No one questions it.

It's just all good business practice. Not nice for employees and consumers to hear I know, but don't shoot the messenger if you please.

Steve