Talking ourselves in to recession? What to do if it all goes pear shaped!
Monday, February 18th, 2008I think we people are like sheep. Too many just seem to follow the rest. Odd that, isn’t it, given that we are not sheep? Or lemmings for that matter? For example, the housing market was going from strength to strength. All was well. Demand was high and, as my uncle would say “they aren’t making any more land”. But then a few folk started to worry that prices were a tadge steep and before you know it everyone was telling themselves that the bubble will bust - and so then, because we all said it and thought it, it did burst.
Most of my clients are quietly doing rather well at the moment - but some are starting to struggle. The so called “credit crisis” didn’t help of course. So now we have lots of clever economic pundits telling us that a recession is looming. Like sheep (or lemmings) I wonder if we will now talk ourselves in to a deep recession. If things do go pear shaped, for entrepreneurs, it is not too difficult to cut costs by cutting staff. Not nice, I know. But if you are forced down this route then you need to be careful. As with all dismissals, in order to avoid the nasty consequences of a successful unfair dismissal claim you need to ensure that you have both (1) a fair reason for dismissal and (2) a fair procedure in place prior to dismissal. Remember, if you fall at either of those two fences then your former employee is likely to succeed in taking you to the cleaners! To help I have written a short rough guide here.
On the other hand, we could all start telling ourselves that things are great - and talk ourselves out of recession. Things are great. Never been better. Don’t you think?