The finer line

IN the United States, while at-will employees are subject to termination without any specific cause, wrongful termination can still happen whenever employer retaliation or discrimination is involved. Examples of retaliation include being fired for being a whistle-blower or unwillingness to commit an illegal act as ordered by an employer. Discrimination can be established if an employee has been fired because of race, nationality, religion, gender or age.

In the Philippines, the technical term used to describe people who are fired is “terminated for just causes” whereas people who are laid off are considered “terminated for authorized causes.” An employee can be fired for just causes such as misconduct or any other activity always related to employee behavior. On the other hand, an employee can be laid off for authorized causes that almost always have nothing to do with the employee’s performance or conduct. Layoffs occur when a company undergoes restructuring or downsizing. There is a finer line between being fired and being laid off, which affects the amount of the severance package given to the employee and his subsequent employability.

In my article “Game over?” my brother in law Tom corrected the inaccuracies of my narrative about him being laid off by his previous employer, Motorola. Tom was neither fired nor laid off by Motorola. He voluntarily left the company as it suffered business reversals. I have encountered quite a few entities that, similar to Motorola, consider their people as their greatest asset. Hence, these few company owners are more interested in keeping their work force intact than in maximizing profits for themselves. While downsizing, as in the case of Motorola, and outsourcing, as in the case of Nike, are legitimate managerial prerogatives to manage company resources, decision makers need to be more conscientious in using them. If done by impulse, those decisions can lead to a frightful ordeal for the ordinary employee. All companies will encounter business cycles—up and down trends—that will impact their profitability. As much as employees are expected to be productive, employers are also expected to look after employee welfare, which includes avoiding layoffs as much as they can.

Work ethic in the Bible tells us that all employees must work well not only in the presence of their employers or to make other people happy. More specifically, Ephesians 6:6-7, tells us, “Work because you really want to obey God. Be happy to work as well as you can for your human masters. Work as if you were working for the Lord, and not only for people”. These norms of conduct apply to both employers and employees. Therefore, the finer line that any employer should be more mindful of is that his decision will not only have to answer to the owner/ stockholder or to the customer or to the government regulator or to higher management but, more importantly, to Him. In the Bible, Galatians 6:9 tells us,”So, we should not stop doing what is good. We should not get tired of it. If we do not get tired, then we shall receive a good result at the proper time.” Business decisions, when made and implemented in keeping with the work ethics as mentioned, can lead to real profitability, for the company and in our lives. There is that finer line, which only a few business leaders recognize, between pursuing things for the company and doing things for Him, which, ultimately, affects the life of an employee.

Motorola, as would other companies do, started laying off employees for corporate survival. Of the 600 engineers in Tom’s group, half were given the layoff notice and were given three months to find new jobs. Motorola considerably helped during this transition as everyone who were laid off found jobs before the deadline, and most got 10 percent higher pay at their new jobs. Successive layoffs were made; all with sufficient severance pay. But when Google took over Motorola, things did not improve as more layoffs were made. It was at this point that Tom seized the opportunity to work at Dell. During his going-away party, hosted by his direct superior, all the remaining engineers, bosses included, happily reminisced the past and toasted to the future of their respective careers. Tom considers Motorola as a good company to work for. I suppose Motorola had leaders who understood the finer things in making business decisions. The company looked after the welfare of its employees as it openly declared that workers are their best assets, at least for the first 10 years that Tom was with the company. But, under a new management, the company still had to let go off of its employees since the new leaders considered the brand as the most important thing, instead of its people.

Tom thinks that a company brand is a measure of past success, whereas future success largely depends on the people working hard to keep that brand intact. Others will argue that the brand is what attracts good people to the company. Hence, the brand must be protected at all costs, even at the expense of its employees. Understanding that finer line between the rationale behind our business decisions will help us better manage the company and our people.