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ShareSince you ask, dear reader, Yes, I do have such friends. More seriously, have you ever had such a miserable run-in to Diwali?
Our smiling aviation barons, both facing their own scary downhill dash after disastrous expansions, embrace each other, to cut costs. One of them then goes off to race fast cars in China and the other dismisses 1,900 young staff. But he has a nightmare and in a late-night confessional, reinstates them, saying they are family. Protesting cabin staff, still dressed in their canary yellow uniforms (clever move, that) meanwhile wins over the local plutocracy (TV chat shows, since you ask), as well as local political barons. The satraps demand reinstatement, failing which, they warn, the airline may remain stubbornly stuck to a runway in Mumbai. Our national politicians argue, too, variously citing the damage to Indian oil companies by non-paying carriers and the need to let markets decide. Oh, and the sacking comes a few days before Diwali. Terrible public relations and you can just see our leaders in Delhi painfully grimace.
You can't make this stuff up and I have come out of this past week convinced that shiny India needs a massive master class in pastoral care. I am sure they also need advice on business management, the factory floor type, but I will leave that to my frequent-flier Friend.
The sight of thousands of aam aadmi -- okay, the urban, mall-shopping kind -- with pink slips is distressing enough. But the manner in which these dismissals were carried out is surely a shocking indictment on modern, not just insensitive but incompetent, Indian management.
There are a couple of things to note at this point. India is apparently a master in the art of under-employment -- thousands on your rolls but doing nothing, look at Air India's 'retrenchment' programme. But we are novices in the brutal art of instant dismissal.
Less than a 1,000 people were dismissed in such a manner in 2006 -- the most recent year for which records are available, I read recently. That is a nano of a statistical blip in an organised sector that employs about 40m. So what's the lesson we should draw from this appalling abuse of young people's self esteem, many first time job-seekers?
Well, Jet and other employers need to acquire the art of sensitised human relations.
It is just not acceptable for managements to put a young, world-class work force -- it was until very recently -- through the roller coaster emotions of job today, gone tomorrow and back in place the following day. This is not the way a billionaire, albeit benign billionaire, should conduct affairs. Whatever the statistics say, there are examples of dignified industrial relations in our country. Like the way Tata Steel cut its labour force in Jamshedpur a decade ago, without much fuss but heaps of dignity. That's expertise.
So, businessmen of India, if you really want your world class ranking and your league table viagras, then here, in the emerging trough of a downturn, is your opportunity. Show dignity when dealing with people. You may be a commoditised business but don't treat your staff like a commodity.
By the way, my Rupee friendly, Frequent flier Friend says the service on his Jet flight on the day after the billionaire's magnificent act of reinstatement, was just perfect. Have a Happy Diwali.
Email: s_malavika@dnaindia.net
