Bosses should be on high alert

Weather: Rain
Temperature: 28 c (it's hot!)

Sorry for harping on the issues of fuel hike and inflation, but these issues seems to be the topics which are widely discussed in Malaysia now, be it in the political arena or coffee shops. Therefore, my today’s article is still centered on the recent “unconscionable” fuel hike and its radioactive impacts.

During this difficult time, human’s survival instinct will tell us to make more money. If you are earning x amount of money a month and that x amount of money is insufficient to cover all your necessary expenses, there are 2 things you have to do: 开源 and 节流 (increase income and cut down expenses). But these 2 things are easier said than done.

Cutting down expenses is definitely easier than increasing income. If you drank 2 teh tarik a day, now you can only drink one. If you enjoyed watching movies in the cinema, now you have to buy pirated DVDs with funny subtitles. If you smoked, now you will have to quit. But there are other expenses that you can’t simply cut, for example, your baby’s diapers, your children’s education, your health insurance premium, your car loan, your housing loan etc.

How to increase one’s income? Take the cue from our civil servants – get a part-time job. But not everyone enjoys working for 2 bosses – 1 boss is already a pain in the a**, imagine having 2.

A good friend of mine sought my advice recently. He secretly went for an interview (using the common trick of applying for personal leave or medical leave) and secured a better offer. He wanted my opinion – should he cross over?

Under usual circumstances, I would have advised him to stay loyal to his current boss. I would have talked him out of that idea. I personally dislike rolling stones. If he is happy with his current working environment and the present job provides him with ample learning opportunities, why risk everything just because of a mere few hundreds increase in salary? Further, I personally know his current boss, who is also my good friend. Do you think I will backstab my good friend by advising his best employee to jump ship?

But now, Malaysians are not living in “usual circumstances”. When a Malaysian needs to think twice before having a teh tarik at a nearby mamak store, something is definitely and seriously wrong. Malaysians are living in difficult time, and every sen counts. If by switching job, he could earn more and work less, should I not ask him to leave his current job ASAP? Yes, as an employee, his must be loyal to his employer; but doesn’t he owe a duty of care to his family and himself too? If he could spend more money on and more time with his family, is he not duty-bound to look for greener pastures?

In the end, I did not give him my view. I stayed neutral. I just told him, if he really wants to move, he should serve a notice ASAP; otherwise, please erase that thought and move on.

This brings me back to the title of this article. As far as an employee is concerned, the fastest and most direct way to increase one’s salary is looking for a new job. Say, if your salary is increased by RM200 each time you change your boss, your salary will be RM1,000 more if you change your job 5 times.

For the above reason, bosses should be on high alert: the next time one of your employees applies for sick leave or personal leave, he/she might be going for interview at your competitors’ office. If that happens, there is really not much a boss could do: match the offer given by the competitor or let the employee go. Both choices are painful and the boss needs to pick one which inflicts less pain.

You can’t really blame the employees for jumping ship during this difficult situation. Even a BN component party has just announced that it will support a vote of no confidence against our PM. No one would want to bet on a losing horse. When it is time to make a move, it is time to make a move. There is no room for hesitations.