13th November 2008, 08:15 PM
The very point of redundancy consultations is to see if mass redundancies can be avoided and this depends upon the circumstances of the companies. I know of one example in the 90s when a redundancy notice was issued and there was suddenly a shortage of people actually in work because everybody was using up their leave entitlement. When this was taken into account the need for redundancies was much reduced.
One difficulty is that the current situation is not like any other down turns and there has been nothing remotely similar since PPG 16 was introduced (apart from the foot and mouth crisis). It is thus difficult to predict what will actually happen and how long will the situation last.
There is a time lag between an enquiry or a quote and a job starting so this acts as an indicator of how much future work will be provided the quote turn into work. Normally you know what percentage of quotes you will win and thus you can predict the about of work you will have on. In the current client this does not apply because prices are unstable and suddenly you can be undercut. Earlier this year I found out how much my rivals were charging for a particular job and to my horror I was much more expensive.
Similarly at times like these one thing that happens is that people may still ask for quotes even if the work is unlikely to go ahead.
The worst situation, however, is when the phone does not ring at all.
The decisions are difficult. While Kevin has a point about being ready for the next upturn but people are only part of the equation. There is no point in having the people without working capital.
So here is the dilemma for BAJRites to consider is it better to employ less people at a higher wage who are fully employed or more people on a lower wage.
As for positive things to do well that would be telling. I have my game plan!
Peter Wardle
(Have to say redundancy was a good thing in my case. Finally I had the time to finish and publish my PhD. The following years were tough until I managed to get my business off the ground - jobs were few and far between for about a period of about 2-3 years. So if I sound cynical I can genuinely say I have been through it)
One difficulty is that the current situation is not like any other down turns and there has been nothing remotely similar since PPG 16 was introduced (apart from the foot and mouth crisis). It is thus difficult to predict what will actually happen and how long will the situation last.
There is a time lag between an enquiry or a quote and a job starting so this acts as an indicator of how much future work will be provided the quote turn into work. Normally you know what percentage of quotes you will win and thus you can predict the about of work you will have on. In the current client this does not apply because prices are unstable and suddenly you can be undercut. Earlier this year I found out how much my rivals were charging for a particular job and to my horror I was much more expensive.
Similarly at times like these one thing that happens is that people may still ask for quotes even if the work is unlikely to go ahead.
The worst situation, however, is when the phone does not ring at all.
The decisions are difficult. While Kevin has a point about being ready for the next upturn but people are only part of the equation. There is no point in having the people without working capital.
So here is the dilemma for BAJRites to consider is it better to employ less people at a higher wage who are fully employed or more people on a lower wage.
As for positive things to do well that would be telling. I have my game plan!
Peter Wardle
(Have to say redundancy was a good thing in my case. Finally I had the time to finish and publish my PhD. The following years were tough until I managed to get my business off the ground - jobs were few and far between for about a period of about 2-3 years. So if I sound cynical I can genuinely say I have been through it)