Apart from those who don't seem to realise someone always pays the price for the freedom they fear they are losing. We know when Auckland sneezes the rest of the country gets a cold. Without doubt, we depend on our biggest city to keep New Zealand moving.
So obviously we want to see Auckland getting on with business because that helps all businesses throughout New Zealand.
But what about some of our biggest local and national companies?
Local councils, DHBs, polytechnics, utilities, power, telco, fuel companies, and major retail businesses. Each one of whom employs hundreds, sometimes thousands, of staff. Usually, with these large organisations, the board employs only the CEO.
All other staff are employed by, and ultimately answerable to, the CEO. I hope these CEOs are looking after themselves. They are operating in unchartered waters, like the rest of the country.
Different from 18 months ago.
It can't be easy at present for these businesses. When they have been able to operate largely unrestricted in the past and now the alert level restrictions are impacting their business activity big time. Declines in spending have decimated their financial bottomline. - no matter how hard the CEO wishes it wasn't so.
Yet service quality cannot be allowed to drop. CEOs are trying not to lay off staff nor do they want to reduce their hours. They are acutely aware the decisions they make now will affect hundreds of households.
Many of these will have had to make adjustments to their spending already, they can read the signs.
And if a family is reduced to one wage from two, they themselves will be having difficult conversations with each other.
CEOs of very large organisations are charged with annually achieving set key performance indicators. In special circumstances, these can be renegotiated. But you can wager that right now CEOs and their senior management team are trawling through all expenditure lines.
In the past when income dropped significantly the first action was always to reduce staff.
Thankfully many businesses were able to receive support from the Government, but there is still plenty of navigating to do to keep the largest of our businesses afloat and operating.
As board members and directors we are anxious too, requesting more information from CEOs about the business. Now we receive additional regular updates and revised budget forecasts. We often hear CEO salaries criticised; far too excessive, they're not in America now, who earns that much money anyway?
If that's what the market wants, that's what the market will pay. I never begrudge a CEO their salary. Well, perhaps only those we seem to insist on hiring from overseas.
It's as if we don't believe, or have little faith, a New Zealander could do the job. We have to get a so-called high flyer from overseas. That person then usually needs the poor sod from the company, who probably applied for the job and missed out, to spend the next nine months bringing him or her up to speed. Learning the New Zealand way of doing business and being introduced to the networks he or she has done nothing to develop.
Seen it happen time and time again. These CEOs get their offshore experience out of the way then bugger off back home. On to their next promotion with never a backward glance.
But CEOs at this level are professional.
They are concerned with excellence and focusing on attaining the organisational goals and objectives even when staring a nightmare in the face. An objective measure may have been past performance, but in this current business environment, they must try to persist with plans of action in a climate of uncertainty.
And large budget variances. They have to know when a position is, possibly no longer tenable, and yet try to manage the stress that this brings.
All businesses are important to the economy of New Zealand.
The CEOs of our largest businesses must have tenacity. They shape the direction of their organisation and influence the jobs and careers of their staff. Right now they are using their finely honed judgement to operate in a difficult environment.
At this time, boards of directors should be concerned enough to ask, not only about the business, but also enquire of the CEO: "How are you doing?" It is their personal attributes and skills that will see them, and us, through this tough time. They need to know we care about their welfare too.
- Merepeka Raukawa-Tait is chairwoman of the Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency, a Lakes District Health Board member and Rotorua District councillor.
