A recession is a time of hard graft, where everybody just gets on with it and tries to get out the other side without losing their job / house / business beer allowance. Its a time when everybody is grim faced and resolute. The sky is grey, its always raining, and old episodes of 'Cheers' are on repeat play on the TV.
Thats how I imagine the early 90's.
But the funny thing about this recession is its not really like that at all.
I work in an office where approximately 70% of the staff are being forced down to a 4 day week (and there have been several redundancies in the last six months). Where we are battered by constant edicts from up above, telling us off for spending too much money on mobile phone calls, informing us of the new biro rationing scheme and battering us about how bad we are performing financially (but at the same time completely missing the point and failing to understand the simple steps which would actually make us more profitable - steps which everyone around me seems to understand).
It seems to have become a little bit of a joke almost. For some its almost at that if-I-dont-laugh-i-will-cry point. I can only laugh at spending days writing a proposal for a client, only to find that that client has gone bust a few days later. Luckily I am still busy at the moment, but others joke about having sat in the office not having done any work for the last three days.
Added to this, the industry I work in has basically seen blanket recruitment freezes. There is usually a relatively high turnover of staff, but as nobody is recruiting - nobody is leaving. In my team of twenty, the personnel has not changed in twelve months. Nobody is getting pay rises, nobody is getting promotion, therefore levels of office politics are low.
This, along with worries about impending doom has actual led, in my opinion to wierdly high levels of humour an camaraderie in a group where nobody usually has any time to talk to one another.
Its very strange.
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4 comments:
in my mothers work (homecare nursing) a couple of months back they were told that they had to pay the postage for their working stuff themselves because of the costs, and in the news they heard that one of the bosses who was hired a short while ago got 'fired' and left with 200k in leave-money. How's that for depression.
Thats sounds like a football managers contract!
I'll tell you what is weird about this recession - and I've traded through two (three including this one), is that businesses right across the spectrum are not prepared to spend any money or initiate new ideas - there is a malaise of "sit here until its all over".
Fo instance in the early 90's we rented a lot of equipment out, no money to buy, just rent.
Now, even though we are offering very cheap rental prices, no-one is prepared to sign a contract to commit themselves, even if we prove that the £10 a week will be repaid by the savings from using our equipment.
I even tried to GIVE someone some kit last week, for free, you might not be surprised to be told that they refused.
Its weird.
As someone who also works in the business-to business sector, there seems to be a real divide between progressive companies working their way through the recession and those that sit-and wait like you said.
I wouldnt mind betting on who comes out better off at the other side.
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