Really Walmart ? Plumbing ??

 
Walmart closed down five stores in the US. What's new ? This happens all the time - stores are closed and stores are opened. So what ? What is strange is the reason it was done and the manner in which it was done.

Walmart announced to its employees two hours before store closing time on Monday last week that the stores were closing from the next day.  The reason stated was plumbing problems !! That is the most unusual reason you might have heard for stores to close.

Walmart has a history of treating its workers, shall we say, a little less generously than most other businesses. But , even by their standards, this closure is curious. One of the stores that was closed was at the forefront of a strike a couple of years ago.  The whiff, that this was retaliation against the workers is strong. But the other four stores weren't the leaders of the strike - so why these five ? Where the four simply lumped together to deflect the real intention to get at those b%^&*s who dared go on strike ?

Telling people two hours before shift ends that they don't have to come tomorrow does not appear to be a humanly good thing to do. But there is no place for human feelings  in the business world it seems, at least in Walmart. To be fair Walmart is saying that all employees would be paid two months paid leave when they can apply for jobs in other Walmart stores and that if they didn't succeed in two months, the permanent employees would be paid some severance pay.

The ostensible logic for the short notice to employees is that apparently if you give them a longer notice, they would all steal the store blind ! A more "acceptable" reason is  that they don't have to legally do any better.  Is this what employee relations in Walmart have come to ?

The stated reason for closure is urgent and pressing plumbing problems that have to be fixed. Really ??? Nobody the city or amongst the employees seem to have heard of the "ongoing and pervasive" sewer problems before. No permissions have been sought from city councils for any repairs. Its difficult to believe that the emergency closure of stores is really because the loo is leaking.

Even the most charitable view of the issue has to concede that Walmart could have handled the whole thing better. But this is probably a symptom of the real problem - Walmart management does not rank handling employees with care and concern very highly amongst its business priorities. That's a sad commentary on the business world. If one of the largest corporations and employers in the world, treats its employees as impersonally as a pallet of stock, then it is no wonder that they are hated as viciously as they are. The very word corporation has become a four letter word. And by their actions,  corporations are doing their very best to justify that tag.

What a stink !

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Don't ask for a raise; ask for a drop !

Microsoft's CEO, Satya Nadella got himself into a pickle yesterday. He was asked at a women's forum what women should do to get paid more. He replied "It’s not really about asking for the raise, but knowing and having faith that the system will give you the right raises as you go along,” he said, adding that such patience was “good karma”.

In this politically correct world, he was, of course, asking for trouble. He has been pilloried and the only sensible PR thing to do is to grovel and apologise. Women are paid less than men, in some places (although I challenge anybody to prove this in the IT industry. I know this industry intimately. No sensible company pays women differently from men for the same job. There are less than 50% women in the IT industry, and a lot less in senior echelons,  but that is due to a whole host of other reasons, not unequal pay).

I have no desire to incur the wrath of the politically correct. So I am not going to debate whether Nadella should grovel or not. Instead, if you eliminate the gender factor from the equation, I think he was making a fair point. In fact, I would go a step farther to say that in some instances, we should be asking for a pay drop; not a pay rise !

Labour , and skills, are a commodity, like any other. Price depends on demand and supply. Every commodity's prices go up and down (even gold). Except an individual's salary, which goes only up. Unfortunately , we have been conditioned to expect a salary hike every year and that the more it is the better. Actually, the worst thing that can happen to us is that we get a fat salary hike each year. For, if we keep increasing our "price", a time will soon come when we have become outpriced. At that point, we are sure to be sacked. If collectively everybody in our unit does this, the unit will be shut down and the jobs moved somewhere where the wages are lower (probably overseas). If one is an outlier, then you can be sure that the person would be fired under some pretext or the other and we will be replaced by somebody cheaper. This is the brutal fact of today's workplace.

The trick is therefore to price yourself, just a shade below market. That way, the company cannot afford to sack you. If that means taking a salary drop, then so be it. In fact, as you age beyond 45, I submit, you should be looking to a salary drop every year. There is a far greater age discrimination in the job market than gender discrimination (try getting a new job when you are 50).  The only way you can continue to age and survive without being fired, is to keep your "price" competitive, allowing for the fact that there is a perceived efficiency bias in favour of the young. A small discount to the market is the right place to be in. Unless you are in France, or unless you are in a profession where you cannot be sacked (as one commenter to this blog is).

I know this is heresy and I am going to probably be pilloried. But I would rather hold a lower paying job than no job at all.

Thankfully, I am no Nadella. So I can afford to be politically incorrect !!

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Give the unemployed a break

One of the great degrading experiences in life is to be without a job, apply hopefully for one, and not even get a response. The sense of emptiness, the feeling of no hope, is a low point in life. If you are in a position of being able to hire, at least send a rejection note politely worded and pointing out why they didn't fit your requirements. Call as many as possible for an interview (just the mere fact of being called is a climb out of the pit of despair) . Treat them fairly even if you are not going to hire them. Please.

When there is a clear discrimination against you, it becomes even worse, and really hard to bear. All through the past, gender discrimination was a big issue. It's now still there, but has at least reduced, so much so that its not the biggest discriminating factor I believe. Two other categories suffer worse discrimination

- The "old". If you are above 45, you have no hope of getting a new job if you have lost your current one

- Those with a gap in their CV - either because they lost a job and couldn't get another one for some time or , for women, for taking a career break for children.

The former will be the subject matter of a future post, but this time I want to highlight the plight of those who have been unemployed for some time. A month or two is OK. When it crosses six months, then you virtually have lost all chance of  getting another job. This is especially acute in Europe and the US - research after research has shown that those unemployed for 6 months or more don't even get called for interviews even if overqualified for the job.

Obama has struck a deal with US companies who are agreeing to review their hiring practices to eliminate this discrimination. This is a good move in a country where post the financial crisis, many people lost their jobs and have had great difficulty in finding another one.

My argument has long been that companies should actively seek out such people rather than discriminate against them. Other things being equal, people to whom life has dealt a blow, are invariably better workers than those who have had a smooth time. When you have faced the bitter experience of unemployment, you will value the job much more. You work diligently and try your best to keep it rather than go on strike. You have a rounded attitude to life - you are likely to treat colleagues and business partners with more regard and respect. You are likely to take a more long term view. All extremely desirable qualities in employees. My experience in my working life has invariably been this - people who have struggled to get jobs, or who faced personal tragedies or who suffered on some account or the other were, almost without exception, better performers pound for pound. So much so that I started to positively discriminate in favour of them !!

So here is a plea. Treat those applying for a job with greater sensitivity and care. Even if there are 1000 applications for every job. And do not discriminate against the unemployed. Its a small cost to do this and it's the human thing to do. Especially if you mouth inanities as "people are my greatest asset" and crap like that. HR types - are you listening .

Its also a smart thing to do, for you never know when you would be on the other side of this equation.

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Vision, Mission and all that claptrap

Every organisation worth its salt has a vision and mission statement. Often crafted by expensive consultants. Those that can't differentiate between the two, have a single statement that's both a vision and a mission. Those who profess to know the difference, have two statements. They are often held in reverential awe. I suggest they must be binned as unadulterated claptrap.

Firstly these motherhood statements have virtually no meaning. Take these examples

"To experience the joy of advancing and applying technology for the benefit of the public" - Sony

"To help people and businesses throughout the world realize their full potential"- Microsoft

"Ford Motor Company is focused on creating a strong business that builds great products that contribute to a better world "- Ford

Can anybody decipher what they mean other than Mom and Apple Pie ?

Some are laughable . Take these for example

"To be the company that best understands and satisfies the product, service and self-fulfillment needs of women – globally." - Avon. Really ?? The self fulfillment need of many women is to watch Saas Bahu serials. By that standard Avon must be in the business of making TV soaps.

"Saving people money so they can live better" - Walmart. Oh Yeah ? The best way to save people money is to tell them not to buy the stuff they don't need.

"Be the best in the eyes of our customers, employees and shareholders" - American Standard. Ha Ha. Fat chance.

I am not at all sure who these Mission Statements are written for. It certainly can't be for employees. 99.99% of employees work only to earn a salary. Their daily job is  a mind numbing grind - answering emails, yelling at people, doing phone calls, looking busy and doing some boring piddly stuff. Not achieving some lofty mission. For more than two decades I was supposed to "meet everyday needs for nutrition, hygiene and personal care with brands that help people feel good, look good and get more out of life". I did nothing of that sort. I wrote ledgers, closed books of accounts, borrowed money and helped put people in other countries out of a job. I certainly did not, and do not,  look good (aaaahhhh, if only ) and as for feeling good, we shall let it pass without an unparliamentary comment !

I hereby suggest a common mission statement for all businesses - " To make money in whatever way possible". If some would like to add the words legally and ethically at the end, that's optional.

PS - With all due apologies to Stephen Covey who wishes to make people like you and me write a mission statement for life !

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No Layoffs --- Ever !

I came across an interesting article today, from which I stole the title of this post. Click here to read the article.

The article listed 9 American companies that have never had layoffs, ever. They range from $ 11bn turnover Devon Energy to smaller enterprises. One of them has been in business for 81 years. Reading through the list, I noticed some trends.

Many of them are privately owned and do not have to bear the tyranny of quarterly results. Most of them are extremely conservative – neither flashy growth nor steep falls; just steady chugging on. All of them are supremely devoted to their employees. The phrase that caught my eye was “If you a do a good job, you’ll always have a job”. All of them communicate very openly and share the pain during bad times. One employee’s statement summed it all ; “It's an honor and pleasure to work for a company that considers you a valuable individual." Wouldn’t you die to have a workforce like that ?

These days, unfortunately, people losing jobs is all too common news. In China it is estimated that a staggering 20m workers lost their jobs. Half a million Americans have lost their jobs each of the last 2 months. The story is being repeated in most countries.

This lead to me to muse as to whether such scale of job losses are really warranted. Its seems almost a macho thing these days to announce huge job losses – somehow the market interprets this as real action being taken to cut costs. Sure costs have to be shed to stay afloat in choppy waters, but I argue that layoffs should be near the bottom of the cost cutting measures rather than at the top.

The mere threat of job losses is enough to send employee performance spiraling downwards. At a time, when you need dedicated concerted action to ride the downturn, a distracted , fearful workforce is hardly likely to rally together. In other walks of life, disasters bring people together. In business, that rarely seems to happen – you get thrown overboard or you desert the ship. Company cultures are lost in an instant when massive layoffs happen. When the upturn happens again, you emerge a weaker , anaemic organization.

It is one of the most degrading of events to an individual to be laid off for no fault of his. If you are a poor performer, sure, you deserve the boot. But if you were a star performer yesterday, and suddenly you are redundant, that’s a sickening blow in the stomach.

This post simply raises the issue – its too complex an issue to analyse in one post. Perhaps, in a later post, I’ll muse on what might be alternatives.

Most companies, if not all, claim that employees are their most important and precious assets. Really ?

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