Blame the Economy

So you didn't do your laundry this week, or clean out the refrigerator. Blame the economy.

You got your wife a rifle with your name engraved on it instead of the necklace she wanted. Blame the economy.

Your construction company laid off 30% of its workers when its backlog of work and balance sheet do not show a necessity to discard this many people. Go ahead, blame the economy.

I know, I know, we can't control the economy. Business owners and executives are powerless victims of economic circumstance. Well, this is partially true. We cannot control the economy, but we can certainly better prepare for it. If you work for any period of time in the construction or development industry and you open your eyes beyond the RFI or change order on your desk, you will realize that there are more peaks and valleys in construction than a guided trek through the Himalayas.

However, in my relatively short career, I've seen very little preparation for this, especially among contractors. What I have seen however, is a mass frenzy of hiring from all walks of life to staff the latest job and then an equally hysteric axe dropping session that leaves their survivors shivering with fear. Nice huh.

Why is there not better foresight when it comes to economic downturns in an industry that is historically cyclical? Perhaps they prefer not to.

Could we be using the economy as an excuse to cut costs, drive profits, and to get rid of people for no other reason than we just didn't like them that much, umm, I mean the economic circumstances are such that we cannot substantiate our current man power?

But does this really go on? Do companies use economic downturns as a method of picking off the low hanging fruit? The answer, at least to some extent is yes. In the very least, the people that get laid off are those who are perceived as less capable or less driven, or even less politically connected than others. Can this be proven? Absolutely not, but it has certainly been my observation.

If this is going on more than we think (although it will never be admitted to or proven), we should at least realize the impact of what is happening. Laying-off workers due to unemployment is a hit on the insurance premium for the company, not to mention losing a trained employee. Searching for, hiring, and training new employees when things pick back up will certainly be costly. Basically, this is a long-term consequence to a short-term problem, or a very lazy way of cleansing your company of employees that are perceived as less capable. In my opinion more time should be spent on communicating, cultivating, and growing the team of employees that are already in place.

However, that would be a lot of work.

Blame the Economy