What do smart managers do in Economic downturns?
Yes you are right they start laying off their staff.
And how do they do it?
They look at the salary figures and start eliminating the high paid employees, then will look at any other large expenditure, all in the aim of rounding off their numbers.
However what organizations fail to do, is to downsize their operations, following the staff cut, by production cut.
This imbalance is nothing but the old concept of Production/Production capability (by Dr. Covey). What this means in simple terms, is that, whenever our delivery will start affecting our quality, we should decline new business ; each good manager should know where that break point is located in regards to their respective business.
To paint a clearer picture, I will share with you my worst dining experience; Last weekend I went with my friends for a very late lunch at Locatelli, the Italian restaurant of the famous Atlantis in Dubai. The restaurant seats 210 persons and looks very neat, with a good design and a welcoming atmosphere. We placed our order which was composed of salads, pizzas and pasta dishes. 45 minutes later the pasta was served and then the salads and some items on the menu were missing, although in those 45 minutes waiting time we called the waiters at least 10 times, 2 of which, the restaurant manager attended us, and where we made clear that we want the salads and the pizzas first as an appetizer and then the other dishes. The problem was that the restaurant is understaffed,orders were mixed, and the worst part is that waiters started blaming their colleagues in front of us.
I wouldn’t be writing this blog if this was a one off; As I was telling this story to my friends, I heard some similar comments on the same top class restaurant.
Staff lay off is a short term quick fix, however messing up with the P/PC equation is a long term damage, and its effects are most of the time irreparable.
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