Should managers and employees share the pain of recession?

The economic downturn has hit Bayer MaterialScience hard with demand for its polymer-based products mainly polyurethane chemicals, polycarbonate and coatings materials currently in sharp decline.

However, the sense of solidarity conveyed by its workers in Germany in choosing to share the financial impact (see PE news story above) could play a key role in ensuring that the company comes through current difficulties in good shape when its key markets such as automotive and construction eventually start to recover.

Moreover the wider approach in Germany of paying companies to avoid layoffs as much as possible, also serves to keep companies¹ skills bases in tact in stark contrast to the rationalisation/redundancy quick fixes, which have long been the norm here in the UK.

How open do you think UK process companies are to approaches such as those at Bayer or in Germany today?

Please send your views to: patrick.raleigh@centaur.co.uk