India is well and truly immersed in the times of the corona virus pandemic and will possibly continue to face testing times in the coming days.
This is no longer a temporary halt in normal services, a puncture in a vehicle that was speeding on a highway and change in tyres would get itself back on track.
This is a bonafide crisis and expectedly, it often leads to a negative impact in several areas and one of them is jobs.
Initially, those employed were guaranteed to face a cut in their salaries but with the rising impact of the virus, that has spiralled further into them losing their jobs and with it the regular income to lead a normal life.
The government has openly urged companies to not be callous in such a situation, but the other way to look at it would be with declining profits and fading hope of revitalisation at any point shortly, off-loading personnel seems like the only option at their disposal.
However, while that remains an easy way out, can there be other solutions to the menace?
The first option could be for the government to possibly take over a few of them in the short term and perhaps look at keeping them afloat through the supply of the sustained amount of finances.
That then begs the question: how does the government prioritise the matter?
The job sector in India must be treated like a severely wounded body, in that the organs which require immediate attention need to be adhered to at the start.
In that respect, the ones that come to the top of the mind are tourism and hospitality. It hasn’t helped the former one bit that the pandemic has lashed India at a time when a lot of pre-bookings in various tourism hotspots were made and later possibly cancelled because of the imminent spread of it.
As a result, many of them have had to suffer significant refunding and their closure owing to the virus has only further enhanced the damage.
Aviation is another area on which they could put the magnifying glass on. With no flights coming in and going out of India, the profits both travel and import/export wise would surely have taken a hit.
The overtaking in the short term would mean the companies would have enough money to pay and keep key personnel in firms.
But the government coming in and helping out may help only certain firms in dire need to recover. There would be many others who will have to find a way out.
One of which could be to merge teams, again for the short term.
Transferring personnel to departments that are still functioning slightly better than the rest would not just result in a reduction in layoffs, it would also help the employee challenge himself in a new environment and develop a new skill.
Once the pandemic does it’s biting and moves on, the added personnel could be re-transferred and there is a fair chance they would be even more determined to ensure the company returns to the same situation, as it was before the virus did its damage.
An average Joe on the street would any day want to keep his job and survive a pay cut than get fired and stare at an uncertain future for him and his family.
There could be a line of thought which says that such measures could exist and work in a utopian world, but layoffs are no joke and if looked at from a growth perspective, it further lessens the chances of a firm becoming stronger once the crisis ends.
For that sole reason alone, sacking personnel should not become a norm.
