What can companies do to remain afloat during this crisis?

Q: I am a human resource officer and to be honest, I'm at my wits’ end. Since the pandemic started, the company had been doing poorly. The sales have drastically gone down. If this continues for the next three months, we might be out of business. To cut costs, my employer is considering firing some employees. But as a HR officer, I have strongly recommended against this. If you were in my position, what advice would you give the company's directors?

I sympathise with your predicament and if it is any consolation, remember that this pandemic is affecting so many organisations.

I admire your conviction on fairness to employees, as sometimes organisations are so fixated on the bottom line that they end up making rushed decisions on employee welfare.

That said, you have to understand that if the business is not profitable, cost has to come down. Your duty is to balance the needs of both parties fairly and objectively. You could explore the following ideas.

Review budget items and reduce non-essential expenditure to free the funds for critical use. This should apply to all departments.

In the HR section, you could consider reducing travel, staff welfare activities, team buildings, training, entertainment and all other activities you can do without for now.

PAY CUTS

As the custodian of organisation’s roles and requirements, you could look at all vacant roles that are not essential and suspend the hiring process.

You need to demonstrate what you are bringing on the table while urging others to do the same. These gestures may seem like a drop in the ocean, but this is a time for employers to stand up for their employees.

When you have to make tough decisions that affect employees, be fair and follow the right procedures. Advice the management to consider effecting pay cuts across board.

This may be followed by allowing employees to proceed on paid leave since business is slow. This way, your financial exposure through leave accrual is reduced and in any case, any excess days can be recovered later.

Taking unpaid leave should be the last option, and it should be time bound to reduce anxiety. You final option will be to declare redundancies, and you could make this easier by making it voluntary by asking any employee who is keen to pursue other activities to take the financial package and leave.

However, you must exercise discretion to ensure work operations are not put at risk if all key staff chose to leave. This is a costly option and needs sufficient funds.