The FINANCIAL — “It was a big psychological trauma for a lot of workers to lose such a perspective job before New Year”, Maya, 25, discharged employee of one of the leading bank in Georgia says. Experts say discharged workers are lost and don’t know how to use their abilities of finding new job. But how will the rest of the staff act?
“Psychological stress of fired employees will last until they fill their free time and empty pockets with something else. But getting over stress will be more difficult due to shortage of vacancies and a huge number of unemployed people”, Otar Tabatadze, Psychologist, Master of Social and Political science tells the FINANCIAL.
“Mass discharging of workers by companies is considered as a main mistake of the employer”, Akaki Tavadze, teacher of management program of Tbilisi free University, ESM Tbilisi says.
“Banks have just discovered that plastic cards were not made using contemporary technology and it was vital that they had started changing them earlier. These workers would leave their work step by step and fewer numbers of unemployed would stay. Discharged employees would have the opportunity to find another work. Today it’s too late”, Tavadze says.
“At first, flows of discharged workers were employees who were not main staff. It was easier for them to get used to the situation and look for a new job. The expectations of this staff were not as strong as per cents of their staying at work were 50/50. They have not worked many years in one organization. Such workers have higher level of adaptation and started looking for a new job soon”, Tabatadze, a psychologist, says.
“Discharged workers during second flow got in stress. Stress control will need time. They are weakened and don’t know how to use their abilities of finding new job”, Tabatadze added.
“We heard about abandoning our department the day before our discharge. We did not receive it from official representatives and doubted that it could be a rumor. No one warned us about it beforehand”, fired employee of one of the banks tells.
Parts of workers were informed about being fired by email letter.
“It’s difficult to find any correct ways for discharging personnel. As the results stays shocking”, Tabatadze, psychologist explains.
“I got information that in some Georgian banks employees were informed of being discharged on the last day of their work”.
Akaki Tavadze, ESM Tbilisi says that “no one can obligate an employer to work on loss and keep staff. Such case is called ethic dilemma”.
”What is better to leave twenty employees out of work from hundred, or leave them all and see how all of them sink?”
According to Tavadze management of Tao Private Bank made a “grateful step”. They declared of leaving their workers in the list of main staff and left them in unpaid leave”.
As for Tabatadze he sees the shortcuts in promises of unpaid leave for workers: “Companies do not want to free their experienced workers and to keep them, tell them they leave them for unpaid leave. But it’s not good for workers, as they are not looking for another job and get hope”.
Tavadze explains that the worst psychological mistake made by the employer is to adapt staff to the work and high salary and after reduce it.
“The situation is the same when you start to decrease salary”, Tavadze comments.
As psychologist Tabatadze clarifies the level of stress among discharged workers will differ according to staff’s motivation.
“There are two categories of motivation for the employee. There were people whose motivation for work was salary. And of course for such people controlling stress will be much harder of an experience. When your motivation is higher you are focused on it. You have spent huge amount of your time on it and now this all disappeared”, Tabatadze says.
Another problem is workers who stayed at work now, but they will be haunted by fear that tomorrow they may be the next.
‘Such employees will focus on survival and not on the efficiency of the work done. He will start planning ways of survival, how to fulfill criteria for keeping place. If this organization is idealistic, that pays big attention to worker’s abilities, he will improves his work. If the organization is far from idealistic he’ll look for getting as valuable acquaintances as possible. Psychologically it’s a bad moment, you start thinking why to do work, as I can be dismissed tomorrow. So hiring big number of workers and then discharging them is not efficient”, Tavadze says.
“Or some can start looking for another job, knowing that receiving new one will be harder after total discharging. Stress and fear will badly influence the efficiency of the employees”, Akaki, ESM Tbilisi added.
“How will the rest of the staff act? It’s individual and depends on persons. Part of them can improve their work, while others may get scared not to get into the third flow of discharged people”, Tabatadze, psychologist, notes.
“When you get promotion at work your ambitions rise and even you’ll be stated at lower position your ambitions will stay at the same level. Your ambitions will always interfere to complete your job well. So these workers won’t be effective neither at looking for a new job nor at doing work”, Tabatadze explains.
‘The level of stress was higher abroad than in Georgia. We have heard about authoritative billionaires who have committed suicide. The fact is that foreign billionaires paid big attention to their status in society. And there everyone belongs to himself. It will be hard to call for mother or other relatives for help. Foreigners won’t go working as baby sitters, Georgians will do this work. If it was only a local crisis and the situation abroad was stable, young generation would start going abroad”, Tavadze says.
“There is no need of waiting till the bank or Real Estate Company will get its previous strength and takes me back. Lots of people will follow by agriculture. I think our country will start basing small industries from 10 workers and will replace the discharged customers here. Small industries give guaranty of lower risk. Government must support it”, Tavadze, ESM Tbilisi, presumes.
“All fired staff must be replaced at other works, but it’s hard for me to name how they will be substituted”, Tabatadze, psychologist, notes.
Two years ago municipality of city carried out some encouraging actions for students.
“Today I have not yet heard about similar steps from government for encouraging discharged workers.the only thing the mayor of Tbilisi, Gigi Ugulava did, was that he let the students to use 75% sales in Gudauri and Bakuriani”, Tavadze declared.
“But another question is what category of citizens allow themselves to spend winter holidays in Gudauri or Bakuriani”, Akaki, ESM Tbilisi, says.
Written By Madona Gasanova
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