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The Rose Without the Thorns

by Ailish M. Nic Phaidin
Brevard Technical Journal

Several days ago I had an uninteresting conversation with a single lady who has an uninteresting white-collar job with a defense contractor. 

“I’m going to do it,” she said with huge emphasis on the words “do it.” No, she wasn’t contemplating jumping off the causeway or anything as imminent or dangerous as that.

She was, however, going to “do it” in a long-term and dangerous way. She was determined to refinance her lovely home and upgrade the entire inside of her lovely house, to include a spanking new kitchen, dining room, bedrooms, den, and a mindless space called a ‘formal sitting room’. The entire upgrade was estimated to cost in the region of $55,000. A very tidy sum indeed, to the average wage-earner in our county, and country.

Nor was she considering shopping around for better terms than her current financial institution.“They’ve always looked after me,” was her reply. Well, they’re in the business of “looking after”customers - and themselves. 

The ‘formal sitting room’ really cut across my esophagus with the sharpened edge of one of the new cleavers she had included in her budget. Aside from the fact that this space apparently hadn’t been used in probably five years, the furniture and fittings were very decorative and in perfectly great condition to entertain - even the President of the United States. The outside of this lady’s house is so well proportioned and maintained that even the President’s bicycle could be parked outside and hidden behind the rich growth and foliage.
This lady owns her home outright – doesn’t owe a penny to anybody on it, except for the usual maintenance, taxes, insurances and such. Now, for no apparent good reason she is about to embark on what I see as a reckless squandering of her future social life, vacations, shopping, charity giving and general quality of life. And, she says, all because “Alan Greenspan is going to raise interest rates so fast I won’t be able to afford a loan to do anything!”

Well, my argument – which went completely unnoticed and unnoted – is that an increase in interest rates, at whatever speed, is inevitable to stem the tide of inflation and to encourage saving in this precarious economic environment.

I’m all in favor of the freedoms offered by our country however, when our debt reaches proportions that are astronomical I’m concerned, and not just for the individual, but also for the lengths to which people will go to avoid personal bankruptcy, particularly since our new laws on bankruptcy are so close and so inhibitive.
I am firmly convinced that companies, and particularly Chief Executive Officers and Chief Operating Officers, should look more closely at their employees debt burdens. These burdens are not diminishing. They are rising, and rapidly.

If your employees have great debt burdens, they are worried about their homes, their families, their children, their children’s education and so on. By the same token, your employees are, in all probability, not giving you their full ‘on-the-job’ attention, and you are not making as much profit as you could given the diminished productivity of each worried employee. 

Granted, you can’t become a nanny to each employee. However, you should give serious consideration to some in-house mentoring on individual debt reduction. “That’s not why I’m in business,” you wrongfully bellow. 

Take the situation where your auditor, who will usually run a credit check on your more senior and key employees, finds that at least half of them are over their ears in substantial debt. These employees are often in positions where they may be more likely to bend the ethical rules. Rules are just that, and breaking them is often a matter of necessity, expediency, and debt reduction. Monitoring suspicions, firing employees, finding and training new employees, and returning to ‘normality’ is an expensive business. 

Then there’s the company where all employees need a security clearance to work there. Take note: your competitors, both at home and abroad, are forever looking for loopholes in your system to gain an advantage. What better way to see a possible loophole than for your competitor to find a hugely indebted employee with access to information fundamental to the success of your business and who is looking over the abyss of bankruptcy? Remember Aldridge Aimes? He sold out his country, all for a few miserable pieces of silver.
So, my recommendation is that you look for a knowledge-able nanny who can give a wee quiet chat to your employees on ways they can reduce, whilst maintaining, a firm grip on their personal debt. And, your corporate counsel or HR person should not be considered for this task. A well written, non-threatening, and informative memo will also do the trick.

If you don’t, or won’t, consider this suggestion, then you should consider calling me and I’ll gladly give you the name and telephone number of the woman who has the brand spanking new cleaver. Then you can cut off both the rose and the thorns and start afresh. That’s probably the more expensive option. You could also end up with a very nice and uninteresting formal sitting room for yourself.

Ailish M. Nic Phaidin, MPRII©, President & CEO Access Link International, Inc.
Public Relations & Marketing Counselors
Phone: 321-952-2978; Email: Ailish@AccessLinkInternational.com