Is the workplace becoming more humane? Recent reports show that output in the UK has fallen by 6% while unemployment has only gone up by 2%. This interesting statistic has been used to suggest that unemployment is not going to be quite as big a problem as had been forecast.
Yet is this really de facto evidence of management doing more to hang on to their employees and looking for more alternatives to redundancy? Certainly there is ground for optimism. Indications are that many employers did try to find alternative solutions. But it could just as easily be argued that this is simply the inevitable consequence of a more technology based society.
The last recession was more than 16 years ago, and the lengthy interval makes comparisons so much more difficult. New technology revolutionised the way business is conducted and global competition has led to a fixation with the need to cut costs and improve efficiency. Initiatives like 6 Sigma and "Lean" have seen businesses re-engineer operations. Much of this has been at the price of jobs. Indeed, reduced headcount has been the primary justification for many technology initiatives. So much so that redundancy has been a common feature of the boom, and job losses occurred at a level never before seen in good times.
In light of this it is hardly surprising that job losses have been fewer than forecast. After all organisations that had already optimised staff levels simply would not have the capability to reduce their staff any further. Consequently a cynic might argue that the redundancies made during the recession showed that nothing had changed and that people remained the first target for managers looking to reduce costs in troubled times. Thus optimism about a more humane workplace may be misplaced. As ever, statistics are open to interpretation.
It is a cliché to say that redundancy is a last resort, but my argument against redundancy has always been based on two key principles:-
- The organisation as a whole is a team; and
- The pain suffered to enable the organisation to survive any economic or business downturn should thus, as far as possible, be borne equitably by the whole team.
Until we have measures in place that incorporate these principles I remain unconvinced as to the progress that has been made in properly valuing people or the contribution they make as human assets. What do you think?