Economic crisis just an excuse...

[slofox]

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

I own a small business. I have gone the other way and have just hired someone to work the seventh day of the week so that we are open every day. This is my attempt to maintain turnover which has dropped a lot in the last twelve months.
The seven day opening bit is a three month trial - if that day does not produce extra turnover, it stops and we revert back to 6 day opening. Fingers crossed that it works.

[Lucy]

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

Name and shame please.

[Winston001]

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.

Understand, but thats where I think you are mistaken. We only hear about job losses in the media when 50+ are laid off. It looks like big business shedding workers, and big business are the only employers that matter.

In reality something like 90% of the businesses in the country are small - no more than 5 staff. They are laying off but its invisible. The only people who know are the Government through WINZ and the Labour Department. They are worried.

Big businesses go under. Feltex, meat companies, paper mills, nothing is exempt. Well ok, rest homes and prisons.

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

If you mean the recession, its much more complex than a few big boys making bad investments. In a way, the whole of the Western world made bad investments - houses always go up.......right?? And those investments were funded by money from oil-rich nations and new wealth from the likes of China.

In the earlier part of this decade the world was awash with capital. Money which people wanted to invest - and it had to go somewhere. Banks were desperate to lend it. So they made borrowing easier and easier. The ordinary person went ahead and took the money, upgraded houses, cars, flat-screen tvs, holidays......until the bad loans started to turn up. Panic.

Which is where we are today. Right now there is a massive oversupply of goods - cars, bikes, appliances, timber.....and until it gets sold and the factories can reopen, things everywhere are going to be quiet. It'll be ok but tough for some of us for a while.

[trustme]

They are called NINJA loans, based on a No Income No Job Application. Why are we surprised that it all turned to shit.

[FROSTY:Me]

Im at the very small end of the employer scale.
Even so wages are a big part of my costs . I have to make sure that my staff earn more for me than they cost.

[slofox]

I have to make sure that my staff earn more for me than they cost.

Which is exactly why my seven day trading is a three month trial...

[Brian d marge]

It’s ‘cause there’s way too many reasons not to succeed, dude.


there were a lot of external reasons .... but one or two who caused the real damage ,,,,, and they are near the food trough again ,,,

Stephen

[warewolf]

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

Yebbut small fry have benefited in the mean time, eg those sub-primers who took the loans for 110% of the house value, spent the 10% and buggered off. At the time they thought it was easy money, now they probably don't have a job and have directly contributed to that situation.

Understand, but thats where I think you are mistaken. We only hear about job losses in the media when 50+ are laid off. It looks like big business shedding workers, and big business are the only employers that matter.

In reality something like 90% of the businesses in the country are small - no more than 5 staff. They are laying off but its invisible. The only people who know are the Government through WINZ and the Labour Department. They are worried.

Been thinking exactly that for some time. My position has been shaky for some months and was finally laid off last month, just 1 of <20 staff. If the monthly total layoffs for small business was reported by the media as if it was one employer, then there'd be far more noise about it all than there is now. Then there's the attrition by not replacing those who leave; that's being reported in the media fortunately.

In the past this firm has carried several non-revenue-generating staff simultaneously for 3-6 months at a time, waiting for big projects to come in. Not anymore.