Recession is nearly over (or at least, this is what most of us believe). For the past 1 – 2 years, we’ve seen many companies closed down and all of those which survived are franctically cutting cost (still). Cost cutting is not wrong but the definition of the so-called cost cutting is, in my humble opinion, not clearly defined in most companies.

How many times have we heard about such a scenario:

The big boss decided to reduce working day from 5 days week to 4 days week, removed the optical and dental allowances, and stopped the food and drink supply in the pantry. All these things have to be done in order to save the company from being closed down during this difficult period.

The big boss then flew to another country for business purpose, on a business class, and used the company credit card to have expensive meals. He also ordered the purchase of several high-end office equipments which were practically useless. Expenses shot up.

In the end, the company still did not do well and was forced to close down due to the high expenses. The big boss went on to find another job as the ‘big boss’ in another company and the best thing was, his bungalow and luxury car were safe.

In case you’re wondering about the shareholders, well, most of them don’t really look into all the details.

I’m sure some of you have experienced or have at least heard stories like the one above. Truth is, there are just so many bosses out there who don’t walk the talk. They’ll ask you to cut cost, but the cost cutting measures are not applicable for them.

The result? Almost everyone will end up unhappy due to the unfair treatment and this will actually force some good people to leave (maybe forcing people to leave without compensating them is part of the plan). If you’re one of the bosses, the next question is do you care about it?

If yes, perhaps there are few things that you really need to work on.

• Know that your responsibility as the boss is to grow the business, not (just) grow your own pocket.
• Earn respect from your employees. A boss who is not respected will not have good employees.
• Understand that what kind of employees you have depends on what kind of boss you are.
• Always walk the talk so that your people trust you. Too much empty promises will not do you good.

But well, I know it’s hard to do the things above. It’s just that, sometimes when the bosses or the company’s top management decided to cut cost by retrenching people, pay reduction, etc …maybe they should think about the entire cost cutting plan thoroughly as many people will suffer due to their decision. And having a bunch of top management people enjoying champagne and driving BMWs just add salt to the wound of those cost cutting victims.

Perhaps, in the end, the main question to the bosses is, do you know what are your responsibilities as a boss?

People take things for granted, especially the good things. They prefer to sit idling around (besides playing Facebook or watching Youtube) and get their monthly salary, than to improve themselves or look for other jobs which they can learn more. They prefer to stay in one place comfortably and assume that this comfortable place will be there for them forever.

But little do they know that nothing last forever in this world, including the good and nice things that they are enjoying now.

For example, one of my sister’s friend has been working for this small company for 10 years. He’s one of the founders, and his job is basically leading the subordinates. When asked about his future plans, he would reply “I’ve been working here for 10 years now, where else can I go? I guess I’ll just receive my monthly salary in this comfortable place until my retirement”. 6 months after he said that line, he was retrenched.

Another example, a story I’ve read from a book. There was this pretty lady who was looking for a rich husband and few years ago, she finally got her wish fulfilled. Her husband was a business owner and earned 5 figures salary every month. All she has to do was to go shopping (her kids were sent to the childcare centers). But thing took a drastic change one day, her husband got a stroke and was paralyzed. It was a big blow and a life changing incident for her. After all, she has been relying on her husband (and her husband only) all these years. But she has no choice. She has to take over the business without any business knowledge, and tried to survive by doing everything by herself. Fortunately, her husband’s condition improved few years later and she is now faring a lot better than before. It was a big change, but she took up the challenge bravely.

I believe many of you might have heard of stories such as the 2 above especially after the recession hit in 2008 and 2009 – former CEO driving a cab, a 50-year-old house wife of a former millionaire begging for a job which only pays 2k per month, a CEO who thought his products were so great that he refused to improvise and believed clients would still flock over to buy the products for many years to come…only to have his business closed down a year later due to lack of sales, etc.

The thing is, incidents like this do happen quite often in our world. Well, even if you try to live on a hill for 10 years, things around you will still change even if you don’t. The serenity and peacefulness of the forest area surrounding the hill that you once enjoyed could’ve been gone, replaced by…erm….. a motor way… a highway…or maybe a nuclear test site.

Maybe that is why the motivational gurus or career and business experts always tell people not to get too comfortable with the things they have now. I know it’s good to appreciate what you have. In fact, that is what I’ve been telling people to do. However, being appreciative and grateful are not the same as being too comfortable. If you think that every good thing will remain as they are now few years down the road, then perhaps it’s time to change your mindset. And in this case, being stubborn certainly does not help.

And don’t you worry too much. Good things can still be there forever, if you are willing to make the efforts to retain them. Improve yourselves, work harder and smarter, etc. That is what I’m going to do to keep the good things I have now, and I believe everyone should do the same too.

P/S …. Actually, this assumption that “good things will last foever” has been one of the main factors behind the fall of some of mankind’s greatest empires. Many leaders of the past always thought that their empire would remain the strongest in years to come WITHOUT any improvement. History has proved them wrong. Ahem, I think I’ve watched too much Discovery channel.

Today I met up with few friends in 1U and one of them is a HR executive for an insurance company. What she told us was quite demotivating, but something that all of us should have realized by now.

A year ago, her company could not find enough resources. She said it was very hard to get the right people back then. Thus, her company actually went an extra mile to get the right people – publishing on newspapers, conducting walk-in interviews, posting up on Jobstreet, etc. Still, it was very hard to hire.

This year, a lot of people will be desperate for jobs

A month ago, her company conducted another walk-in interview. This time, the queue was so long that it took them few hours to finish all the interview sessions. And among the interviewees, there were few remarkable candidates which my friend can remember.

Candidate 1 – not the youngest of the candidates, but she has no job experience. She used to be a house wife but was forced to find a job because her husband recently lost his, and they were not able to support their family’s living cost.

Candidate 2 – 1 of the youngest candidates and did not have any proper qualification for the job. And when told that the job role was not suitable for her, she started to cry and beg the interviewer to give her the job. She said that her mum was sick and she needed the money to pay for mum’s medical expenses. The salary from her father was not enough.

And these 2 candidates were not alone. In fact, there were quite a number of them having financial issues due to the bad economy (retrenchments, job losses, etc).

Even Spidey lost his job

Then my friend told us that the job positions offered, all of them, did not have a good remuneration package. Those remuneration packages were well under the medium income bracket. And yet, there were so many people who came for the interview.

So if you still think you’re in a bad situation because of no bonus…or no increment, then think again. If you think your salary being cut is very unfortunate, then think again. There are many more people out there who are in a worse situation than you.

And for those people who refuse to do certain things because it’s not part of their job (without proper justification)….either you leave that attitude of yours, or you leave the job. Give that job to people who need it more. I’m pretty sure that they have a much better attitude than you.

Don’t want to do that? Then change your attitude.

p/s…seems like most people do realize how bad the economy is nowadays. 1u was shockingly quiet on Saturday. I was in Italiannies for lunch and the usually crowded restaurant has only 4 to 5 tables with customers. Anyway, I didn’t pay the bill since it was for my birthday. LOL. With my current financial status, I doubt I can dine in such expensive places.

I came across this valuable article about “Finding a Good Job in a Bad Economy” which I feel will be helpful to a lot of people out there. And I strongly believe in the points stated in that article.

From what I can see, networking and preparing yourselves (in terms of skills and mindset) are 2 very important things before you look for a job. Because if you’re without the proper skills, you will not be attractive in the eyes of the interviewer and might just become one of the hundreds of average job applicants. On the other hand, if you have a negative mindset and do not even believe in yourselves, your low confidence will be very obvious during the interviews. An employer does not want to hire someone who does not even believe in himself. Thus, it’s very important to be optimistic and remain positive….even if you’re suffering from a pay cut or a retrenchment.

Anyway, do have a look at the article and hopefully it can provide some insights in your job hunting.

Good luck and hope it helps.

In 2009, there will be a lot of people with negative thinking. Morale will be at record low. People will begin to feel hopeless as their world comes crumbling down due to retrenchments and bankruptcy.

But is it really that hopeless? Maybe it is, but we shouldn’t let that bring us down and ruin our 2009.

Very meaningful quote from Henry Ford

In my opinion, now is already too late for any ‘fixes’. If anyone tells you they are trying to implement some fixes to improve their business, it’s a lie. I would say that it’s not a fix to improve their business, but a fix to survive. Retrenchments, pay cuts or any cost cutting measures are not meant for ‘improving business’. Quite the contrary. These things are done so that a business can still survive.

That is why I think there are 2 things which every person and every business should do in 2009.

• Survive
• Prepare

The first point is to survive. If we’re not able to survive this cruel 2009 (and probably 2010), then any preparations or improvements will mean nothing. For example, you will need a job and the salary to survive. If you’re jobless now, your priority should not be to improve yourselves or to go for trainings….it should be how you can survive for the next few months. It’s either you get a full time job, or you get a part time job or earn some side income. The objective here is the only and only “to survive”.

The second point comes after you’ve ensured you can survive. It is to prepare yourselves in terms of finance and knowledge. Lead a frugal life and keep as much money as you possible can, and put it as a reserve somewhere. Invest them if you want but never spend it on your WANTs even though there are plenty of promotions and sales this year. You will need that fund to push you to another level once the economy recovers. As for the knowledge, try to improve your skills and exposures by attending trainings, self-studying, doing freelance, networking, etc. The people you know and the skills you’ve acquired now will be very important when the economy recovers. In fact, these might actually be the deciding factor to see whether you are prepared for the next level, or not.

To be honest, most people will spend their time in 2009 and 2010 doing the first thing. These people are actually those who are slightly motivated. Those who are less motivated will just sit there complaining and do nothing. So by doing the first and then the second, you are actually putting yourselves or your business in a very good position to challenge for the top spot when the economy recovers (when companies are hiring again, and when people are willing to spend their money again).

Those are the 2 things that I would advise people to do, and also the things which I myself will do. Because the last thing I want is to miss out on this golden opportunity to make myself known to other people. I don’t think I want to enter the newly recovered economy as a nobody.

Hope it helps.

P/S…….Feel free to check out this useful article from Seth Godin – Slack.