Our top blog page has been all about employees who are feeling hard done by because their bosses aren’t paying them to have the day off or they are being expected to work while colleagues sit at home. In some cases it is, admittedly, causing a real hardship as workers get told ‘Turn up or else …’ while the people who look after their children or get them to and from their place of work take the day off.
There have been other cases where our posters are clearly being expected to work without a contract of employment – and that’s a definite no-no.
Amidst the background bleating, though, won’t someone give a thought for the employers?
A lot of figures are being bandied around about what it will cost the economy, but x billion pounds in lost export or y billion pounds in missed trading doesn’t mean any more to most bosses than it does to me. What is real, is that an already difficult situation (recession, low disposable income, horrendous bureaucracy, rises in VAT, increased Minimum Wage etc etc etc) is being exacerbated by this ridiculous enforced Bank Holiday.
Now (for many bosses) there’s the lovely option of either paying your staff extra to come in or paying them the usual to have a day off. But it won’t just end there, will it? Even if you do bite the bullet, you will lose workers to the dreaded ‘Easter bridge’ as they take the whole week off (cold, fever, accident, general malaise and so forth). Furthermore, when people drift back on the Monday after, they will be the best part of useless as they witter on about their take on the Royal Wedding events. They’ll probably just pick up from where they left off on Thursday lunchtime.
Suppliers and clients may well be hors de combat from somewhere on the Thursday to possibly as late as the following Tuesday. Then, of course, there will be the backlog for which you can pay your staff overtime to sort out – the same ones to whom you paid double time to cause!
It’s a lovely excuse for people who owe you money to inexplicably become unavailable with their “Sorry, we closed for a few days. Our admin section’s trying to catch up on the backlog. I’m sure they’ll get around to sending your cheque off to you soon”. It’s that ‘soon’ word that worries me the most – a very subjective term is that; even at the best of times.
When it comes down to the wire, you are probably going to lose the equivalent of at least 3 days to absenteeism and general disruption.
Assuming you are open for business about 250 days a year, that equates to 1.2% off your turnover. What profit margin are you operating on? I bet it’s not a whole lot more, assuming you are making a profit, of course. Running at a loss won’t get you any sympathy or exemptions from the effects of this beanfeast – it’s just ‘expected’ of you.
But, of course, there were only 3 possible dates when the wedding could take place. For goodness sake! What planet is this we’re talking about?
What kind of idiot thinks that it is a good idea to stick an extra Bank Holiday 3 days after a double one? Have they ever worked for a living? Have they no concept of the effect that this has on the psychology of the average worker? The, what I call, ‘It’s not worth getting started now’ syndrome. Do you recognise it?
I so love how a spoilt minority, most of whom would totally fail to comprehend the situation that most small business owners face on a daily basis, take these decisions on our behalf. I can just hear them:
“I know, let’s get everyone to take the day off to celebrate. Won’t that be rather jolly?”
Yes, it would be if they picked up the bill, wouldn’t it? Still, at least we know where the extra 2½% VAT is going, don’t we?
If you are a senior manager or director, what’s your opinion on this? Do I get a Union Jack stuffed in my face or will there be a ‘Hear, hear’ from the unlistened-to majority?
What I really want to know is will we have to go through this all again when Billy and Kitty get divorced?
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