The Small Business Column: Clerys' Closure
The closure of Clerys’ department store in Dublin has been nothing short of farcical. From the workers to the treatment of the brand itself, the people behind its liquidation have a lot of questions to answer.
The fact that Clerys went into the liquidation is a lot more palatable and easier to explain than how they engaged with the people working in it.
Millions of euro were poured into a refurbishment of the premises after a storm caused severe damage in 2013. The slump in retail spending, the cost of maintaining a store and its prime real estate location in Dublin’s neglected main thoroughfare probably only added to the problems. None of that, however, justifies the way in which the store was shut.
It has emerged that many staff did not even know about the liquidation of the business until they got home on the Friday evening.
I can’t imagine what it’s like to get home from your place of work, turning on the news or Facebook and realising you don’t have a job. Instead of going out with some pride and dignity, as befitting such an iconic store, its closure has ended with an unsavoury stench.
Let’s not forget the small business vendors inside its doors. This will have a knock-on effect for their business as well. They were only let in after a number days to retrieve their stock — worth €3m.
Liquidation or not, this is a classic example of how not to treat people who work for you.
There is such an thing as business ethics. What you do, how you do it and the consequences of those actions are not simply to be used when it suits.
How you treat people in your organisation is a window into how well a company is run. If owners are not interested in the knock-on effects, then they are not really interested in you. If a company is failing then don’t keep it a secret; you have to give people some idea of what’s going on.
Last week I was chatting with Hilarie Geary from Executive Connections, a recruitment firm in Dublin, who said: “No one will ever know what the workers are going through. Some have been working there for over 30 years. How do you start again after 30 years? Now they have to prepare themselves to get into the most competitive jobs market we have seen for a decade. Those kind of people are not equipped for that.
“The first thing that needs to happen is to bring their confidence up off the floor and help them believe they can get out there again.”
She also cited an example of a US company that met with their employees six months before closure and told them the situation. They supported them in getting new employment. They gave them respect.
No company can make it on its own. It needs good people with good skills to be successful. If a company fails it’s no reason to turn your back on people who tried their best. Closing a business is a very hard thing to do; saying ‘thanks’ isn’t.
