While the recession, or downturn negatively affected millions of people nation wide, many people maintained, or flourished in these bad times. I have three examples that play out different scenarios during the recession, and I feel as if they all led to good things in the present. It was extremely hard to find a job that met the requirements that many employees were looking for during this period. The economy and job market was so unstable and unpredictable that a safe and stable job was what everyone was looking for. With that being the case, there was so much demand for jobs that positions became quite difficult to find.
One of my good friends dads was laid off during the recession, and it changed the entire dynamic of their family. The house that I used to enjoy to go to became a somewhat depressing place to be. There were arguments quite frequently, and everyone was just moody when I was there. I talked to my parents about what was going on there, and they told me that he got laid off, and that their family was having a really tough time dealing with the situation at hand. It is understandable, because he had a great job for years and years, but the company just had to make cuts and let him go. Everything in life has some relation to money, so all of their decisions became a little bit harder, especially because this family had two kids in college at the time. It becomes hard because this family was so comfortable for the entire time that I have known them, and all of a sudden student loans become a realistic decision, which is something that I know my friends dad did not want to force on his kids. It's tough to see someone close affected by something like this, because it wasn't his fault, and he had no say in the matter. After a couple of years of struggle, he finally found a stable job, and the family that I once knew and loved, started to bounce back from their downturn.
The second scenario that I want to touch on is the idea of maintaining some stable job during this recession. My father did just that, but was stressed out and annoyed with all of the adjustments that he had to deal with. He had a group of workers who worked underneath him in various situations, and he was advised by his boss to let some of them go. So my dad had to let go guys that he had become very close with over time, and he had to keep the ones that produced the best work. Needless to say, firing one of your friends and coworkers is a tough thing to do, and the stress of this situation led to my father having a heart attack. My dad survived the attack and had a procedure to unclog over stressed arteries. While my father pushed through the bad time and maintained his pay, while supporting our family, he pushed back his emotions. Just recently, he quit his job with his previous employer, and took a job with a different employer, because he was sick of the stresses that came with his old job. Not only is his new job better, but it is also closer to where we live, so the bad situation that he once had to deal with became blessing in disguise.
The third scenario deals with the idea of owning your own business during a recession. My best friend's dad owns his own investment firm in Chicago, and he didn't take hit at all over this period. I believe this has to do with the close ties that his company forms with all of their clients and partners. The company literally feels like a family, and the recession did little to take anything away from that feeling. I do not know too much about their financial maneuvers and such, I do know that my friend's dad has been doing quite well, and it seems as if the recession was a non factor for him.
These are all interesting and touching stories. I retired rather than have to lay off people who worked for me. It certainly is stressful.
ReplyDeleteWith all of these good stories, do you have some thoughts on how they relate to our class discussion? I ask this, in part, because those should be in the blog post but also to prime you for our discussion on Thursday.
During your father’s employment in the company that he left, would it be possible to say that he exerted more effort? I don’t necessarily mean had to complete more work, which he may have had to do with downsizing, but also mean in terms of carrying an increased stress level. Usually, jobs that carry higher stress levels are associated with higher uncertainty (such as marketing) and are paid really well for the employees’ exertion.
ReplyDeleteIn the last presentation, we talked about how wages related to the amount of effort employees took it. It appears your father was already fully exerting himself in his position for his pay before the recession since he stayed and had to choose the best workers (implying he was also chosen as one of the best workers at his level). Since stress took a toll on your father, is it possible that his wages relative to his level of exertion actually decreased during this time, but that he still maintained a level pay check?
Like professor says these were all interesting stories. WE took the question of adjustments in a different way, where I talked about how my Dad adjusted his skills and improved his resume while your friend adjusted living conditions. No doubt that they both are valid adjustments and each did some of both.
ReplyDeleteIt is pretty impressive that the owner did not really experience some sort of drop in business, probably only a minor drop. Maybe it was also due to the size, like if they were small and conservative?
In regards to the first and second scenario:
ReplyDeleteHumans are people with emotions and these emotions sometimes lead to adverse events. In my opinion wouldn't it be a benefit to leave the hiring and firing to a person with a lack of emotion, since they would not "feel" the impact as much. All in all business within the organization should be more objective and leave the emotions at the door.