THE DEBATE OVER DOWNSIZING

For our online users, TIME World Wide on Pathfinder on the World Wide Web and the TIME News Center on CompuServe provide not only news and analysis but also an ongoing forum in which they can debate the issues of the day. Earlier this month we asked for their views on the following question:

In this era of corporate restructuring and downsizing, what do you think employers owe to their employees?

Here are some of the responses we got:

If employers want to engage in a long-term business, their employees should be assured that their future is directly linked to the well-being of the company. Employees should know the truth about the performance of the company and how their own work contributes to that performance. And the employer should not sacrifice the employee on the altar of short-term stock gain. People who have been downsized make poor consumers. What will happen when there is no one who can afford to buy all the cheap products these downsized companies are churning out? The last computer and the last ceo in each company will have to turn off the lights and downsize themselves. PETER BLOCH New York City

I think that companies should show a sense of caring toward the employees, but what do they owe them? Besides pay for completed work, not much. Too many people that I have hired and fired don't work and don't deserve anything. If a job can be done with considerably fewer people, then corporate downsizing proves there are too many folks collecting paychecks they don't deserve. DALE BOOTH Tucson, Arizona

It's not like the old days when people gave their life to the company in return for loyalty. This is what is missing in today's economy. The workers and management have no idea of who the other is. In the process of downsizing, a lot of people are being picked up by newer firms, but what about the people whose jobs are being sent overseas or across the border? I am not looking for a controlled economy, but one in which people have a choice and a chance to do their very best in a job without having to worry about having the rug yanked out from under them. DOUGLAS C. WAGNER Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Corporate bosses need to spend less time living the high life and more time paying attention to day-to-day operations. Quality-of-life issues are beginning to surface with today's employees. Although it is true that managers and owners of companies have an unending supply of eager prospective employees to choose from, there can be consequences resulting from the poor treatment of staff members. Overly strict and oppressive managers can cause employees to seek a job where good treatment of workers is a high priority. Supervisors who treat their employees badly will see the day when skilled, talented and long-suffering workers walk out the door. Once gone, they will be replaced by less talented, unskilled employees who won't put up with abuse. The quality of America's products and services will decline unless job conditions are improved. MICHAEL L. DAWLEY Pearl, Mississippi

The relatively small amount of job loss that is actually attributable to foreign competition, new technology and immigrant workers cannot possibly explain the magnitude of the job loss of the middle class, but it does provide plausible cover for the managers. The real explanation for the reduction in the number of jobs is the zillions of crazy deals cooked up by Wall Street for no other purpose than to generate fees, and the complicity of senior executives bought off with stock-option deals, bonuses and other payments. It is the operators and maneuverers who survive these deals, not the people doing the work. Companies need job stability to stimulate the demand side, to counteract the disastrous stimulation of the supply side. Raise the capital-gains tax, and start taxing securities trading. Correct the tax structure to discourage noneconomic deals and redistribute the money that was stolen from the middle class. Because of past government actions, we are heading toward an impoverished and unstable society of haves and have-nots, and ultimately to a society only of have-nots. JULIA GRANT Stamford, Connecticut

In a monetary sense, neither employers nor their employees owe each other anything. If one wants to change the face of society, one cannot do so by mandating employer loyalty by fiat any more than mandating against employee theft and espionage have actually abolished these actions. What employers "owe'' is a matter of a person's perspective of what individuals owe one another: care and concern, or animalistic rivalry? TOM NADEAU Alhambra, California

Employees should expect their employers to recognize them for who they are--their firm's chief resource. Every company that is worth anything derived that worth from the efforts, knowledge and ingenuity of its employees. These companies could not have grown without them, and will not experience any meaningful progress by getting rid of good workers. Corporations may have bought themselves some quick profits by slashing payroll, but in return they have created a monster in the form of employees who no longer have any level of dedication or loyalty to their bosses. After the payroll cuts are over, a company will have to give back to its workers far more than it gained. For many years employees gave their blood, sweat and tears to their employers because they knew they would see a big return for their efforts--and rightfully so. If the worker can't expect the return, the employer cannot expect the effort. LORRAINE CAGLIOSTRO New York City

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