Managing the Chinese workers (Part 3)

3.  Employee treatment

 Often foreign companies in China are not getting the same direct results from similar corporate policies and procedures. There are many reasons for this happening and I would like to share my insights on some of these reasons.

There is a common practice in many state and private owned companies to discipline errant workers. And that is to fine them for misbehavior, flouting company rules, insubordination, poor workmanship at work, etc. The fine could be ￥10 for being late at work for less than 30 minutes or for not following the assembly instruction correctly. I have come across a company where the managers and engineers were fined a month salary because of defects found at customer factory.

It is no surprise that many Asian foreign factories have incorporated such practice in their premises as they also believe it is an effective way to curb workers misbehavior. Such belief by the Chinese managers has convinced many western owned factories to follow suit. Due to language barrier and little knowledge on cultural behavior, many expatriates let the local managers to impose fines on workers.

I disagreed with such practice as it is not only counterproductive to the original intent to keep discipline in check but also morally wrong to punish a worker with his or her hard earned salary. Such practice is no different from the exploitation and harsh treatment given to workers in Europe during her industrial revolution more than a century ago. Taking fines from workers is like robbing them of their livelihood. It also intrigues me that such practice is widely implemented in a socialist country where the government claims to protect the workers welfare and rights.

There are too many mismanagement and abuse on imposing fines on the workers. Some factory managers are suspected of using fines to reduce payroll cost while some supervisors are using it to intimidate the workers to follow orders. It is pathetic to see the workers losing part of their salary at month end due to unreasonable and hefty fines imposed by their managers or supervisors.

In one of the dinning, I summoned the waitress that she had delivered a wrong dish to me. She might have written wrongly while taking orders. She pleaded me to accept the food instead of replacing it. From her watery eyes, I understood she would have her salary cut with the cost of the dish which happened to be an expensive one. Thus I accepted the dish to save her from pay cut though I did not like the food. This incident is so common in many restaurants and service outlets.

Such practice does not make workers to understand the importance of well discipline and following company rules and policies. It actually let them feel that misbehavior can be put up with through paying fines. So instead of learning the virtue of good discipline, an incorrigible employee will use fines to be late or careless at work, cheating, abusive, etc. I do not believe a factory could deliver quality goods and service if its employees can get away with ill discipline and negligence easily by paying fines. Thus I am delighted to come across some overseas customers forbidding Chinese suppliers to impose fines on workers.

There are alternatives to induce disciplines and also incentives to encourage workers to perform well. The Chinese workers are no different from their peers in North America and Europe in that they want to make a living through work. The expatriates should implement similar HR policies and procedures from their home countries.

I have abolished the fines in my operation and replace it with the demerit scheme. We have demerit points given to workers for different level of misbehavior or remissness. There is a limit on the demerit points the workers can accumulate. It would lead to dismissal, extending probation period, salary freeze for a year and no promotion. To encourage good discipline is vital, I allow my managers to deduct the accumulated demerit points appropriately for a worker if he has demonstrated good behavior in the next six months.

The workers will find that forfeit on annual salary increment or impending promotion is more painful than paying fines as the former has a longer lasting effect. Also the management should look into incentives to motivate the workers. The workers are encouraged to work better under the incentives schemes and also aware of the consequences of wrongdoings. The morale and discipline are better in such environment.

The employee welfare and benefits program is customized to local flavor. This is perfectly all right as the environment and conditions are different from home corporate. However if the difference is perceived as an exploitation of the workers, the workers would not be motivated to put in their best effort. A good example is that the employees in the home corporate enjoy the performance bonus payout while the Chinese workers do not get any bonus at all even though the latter make major contribution to the corporate total revenue. Another example is where the Chinese workers need to sign a bond, usually one or two years of service, when the company require him to take some offshore training which is less than a month. However such bond policy does not apply to the employees in the home country. A decade ago, the workers would not be bothered by this disparity, but not now with the young employees born after 1990s. These employees are more assertive and demand their fair share and rights.

Fifteen years ago, employees in the foreign companies were happy when they compared how much they were getting with regards to their peers in the local companies. Now they may dismay or envy when they find out the kind of welfare programs and benefits their overseas colleagues are getting from the corporate. You can give less to the Chinese workers than the employees in the home country, but deprive them on the incentive schemes will not go well with the Chinese workers.

    C.   Prejudice

Some expatriate department heads have a prejudiced attitude towards the workers. This will arouse more vociferous reaction than it would for a local manger who treated them the same way. The racial or us versus them discrimination will be touted as the reason and could broaden the contention. Lately there is a strengthening of self esteem and confidence of the Chinese. They will not tolerate the discrimination and bias treatment from the expatriate manager.

In the mid 1990s, I knew one Asian materials director who summoned all her staffs (managers, planners, buyers, etc) to her office in the morning and commenced her one hour top-down criticism and commands to her staffs. There was no face saving given to staffs who had made mistake or did not meet her expectations. The staffs were happy to stay quiet, listen to her orders and then execute them without considering whether the orders were appropriate or serving good for the company. After all she would face the outcomes and not them. The materials director felt that the Chinese workers were stupid, lazy and needed close supervision. So instead of having her managers to account for their responsibilities and actions, she shouldered all the work stress and their responsibilities. She worked 12 hours on weekday and 4 hours on weekends leaving her no time to start a family. And her managers were not given opportunities to develop management skills and responsibilities. I saw inefficiency in the department and total dependency on the materials director who could not afford to take sick leaves.

The Chinese workers and the executives are as smart and conscientious as any workers I have seen in other countries. They must be given the accountability and responsibility to perform well with dedication and drive.

 Dec 29 2009