Some of the more than 600 persons who turned out to be interviewed for jobs at The Captain's Bakery, Half-Way Tree Road in St Andrew, in January. - File

A few weeks ago, upon my return from a well-needed vacation, I was greeted with the news that a company of which I am a customer, had just laid off nearly two dozen managers, citing automation as the justification. Suffice it to say that I was deeply distressed by the news. What's more, it was done by a company that has a very nice (and no doubt very expensive) prime-time advertisement on television singing about its love for Jamaica and asking for support for its products and services. I suppose love can be demonstrated in various ways.

More recently, I read with great interest, an article in the Sunday Gleaner of September 27 written for and on behalf of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security (MLSS), lamenting the spate of redundancies and calling for action to stem the "haemorrhage". In that article, the ministry was urging employers to hold strain on the lay-offs and was proffering 'flexi' work as a solution.

I wish to join the ministry's call and further extend it by saying that employers need to find creative ways to preserve or save jobs, not being oblivious to, but especially because of the recession. Believe it or not, there are ways as the ministry indicated, to cut costs and save jobs rather than take the line of least resistance all the time by cutting jobs to save costs, an action that past experience has proven does not always work.

job-saving mechanism

The hotel industry is a case in point that has long been employing a job-saving mechanism called rotation, for a number of reasons, the main one of course being cost effectiveness. The practice is to align the workforce to the level of business, but in a way that preserves jobs.

During periods of rotation, the employers do lose some workers who go in search of and obtain employment elsewhere, preferring full pay to rotation, which is understandable. The point is, unless the employee prefers otherwise, some modicum of employment is maintained, which is better than no employment at all. This is one option.

Berger Paints is to be commended, for, at the commencement of the downturn in business due to the global recession, it proactively worked out an agreement with employees in order to maintain the full workforce. One of the concerns in this matter is the unrelenting thirst by some decision makers in this recessionary period, not for survival of companies, but for the achievement of profit targets that belie the environment in which they are being earned.

As companies relentlessly go after profits, (it being debatable whether it is to show tenacity or greed), they are reminded of the corporate social-responsibility concept that emphasises companies' responsibility to all stakeholders, not just shareholders. It is also important to mention that some company executives are major shareholders in their companies' through stock options. They, therefore, have a vested interest in the strong financial performance of the organisation.

very important stakeholders

However, employees who are very important stakeholders must never be taken for granted. In good times, and bad, it is the stakeholder relationships, in which employees are pivotal, that determine business success. Many a company has learnt this the hard way. Customers are stakeholders too, and in recent years, have become very vigilant about how they would like to see the organisations with which they do business conduct themselves.

The Government is also a key stakeholder. It cannot be, however, that it is expected single-handedly, in a Herculean way, to hold the economy together. The view of US President Obama is very useful. He said recently that in nation building and more so in dealing with national priorities, the need for action always exceeds the limitations of government.

To its credit, the Jamaican government gave out stimulus packages earlier this year. Although there is the usual controversy about its intent, in my view, that represents the BIG stimulus. The expanded (creative) thinking is required that views the government injection as only one type of stimulus.

It is proposed that each job saved is also a stimulus, albeit a LITTLE stimulus, but just as important, given the principle best captured in our Jamaican parlance that "one-one coco full basket". It is worth reminding, too, that the Government does not create unemployment, for which it is always blamed or held responsible. Rather, through its statistical arm, the government collates the data. The figure is, therefore, an aggregate one which, incidentally, some persons question because of the definition of unemployment that was introduced a few years ago, saying that it has led to an understatement of the state of affairs. The jury is still out on that argument.

public-sector bureaucracy

What is important is that in the national context, every job counts! It might also seem that the MLSS is talking out of two sides of the mouth being part of the same government that is giving notice of the rationalisation of the public sector and hence, impending job cuts.

It is no secret that over the years, the public-sector bureaucracy has got out of hand (or perhaps out of pocket) and needs to be brought back in line. An oversized public sector is a waste of taxpayers' money, and time, too, as they navigate the maze of the bureaucracy to get simple things done. It is also true that as the public sector is pruned, that human capital rationalisation requires the other sectors of the economy to absorb those skills for both the benefit of the economy. The intention cannot be to waste, but to reallocate or reinvest that capital elsewhere.

I, therefore, implore those employers who are not yet on side to join in 'stimulating' the economic recovery by preserving jobs to the greatest extent possible. In fact, those in a position to do so should hire a few youngsters. This is not to encourage inefficiency, but rather creativity and magnanimity in approaches to dealing with the current crisis. Normally, for competitiveness, organisations, are advised to think local, but act global. I will add to that the corporate citizenship imperative that employers think organisation, but act national.

Dr Jennifer Wynter-Palmer is a human resource development specialist and human capital development researcher. Feedback may be sent to columns@gleanerjm.com.