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Phil O'Reilly - Source: ONE News -
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Business New Zealand chief executive Phil O'Reilly says employers and employees are facing tough economic times but there are measures both parties can take to stave off redundancies.
One in three firms are expecting to lay of staff according to the latest New Zealand Institute of Economic Research's business confidence survey, but O'Reilly says while we should be concerned "it's really important that we don't have a good old fashioned panic".
He says while the survey results are alarming, a lot of firms are holding back on making redundancies and are waiting to see how the downturn pans out.
"They're trying to make sure they don't lay off staff. I think most bosses will be saying 'only a year ago skills shortages were the number one problem I had and I'm going to make sure I hold onto staff because I'll need them as I come out of the down time'," he says.
O'Reilly says the best thing for employers to do is communicate with their staff and keep them aware of what the markets are doing, after all, staff are valuable assets in a downturn and can play a part in business solutions.
"The employees are going to be the ones that help you out as a boss, they're the guys that are going to see what's going on in the market first," he says.
He also says that employers can talk to their staff about flexible work options to avoid lay-offs, such as taking leave or cutting down to part time hours.
"One of the problems we've had in previous downturns is this very black and white dividing line between work and [the] dole," he says.
During the weekend Air New Zealand announced that some senior long-haul pilots will now fly domestic routes for less pay due to the cutbacks in long-haul flights. The company's pilots' council has supported the move, saying it is preferable to being made redundant.
O'Reilly's advise to employees is to make sure they have a good set of saleable skills: in down times it is usually the ones with no skills or low skills that suffer the most.
He also says employees can enforce their value to employers by keeping them in touch with what is going on at their level in the business and contributing ideas to keep companies going.
He also says employees should consider any flexible work options presented by employers.
"If we can keep our companies and our employment in tact as much
as possible, that's going to mean that as the inevitable upturn
comes, the company who's done that is likely to be more successful
than the person who's stripped out everything and has a very low
threshold."
