Raids Turn Expat Lives Topsy-Turvy

Free Trade UN says nearly Murray starts Zone remains 93,000 killed hectic day with a ghost town7 in Syria10 conflict revenge46 win Max 43º Min 28º FREE www.kuwaittimes.net NO: 15839- Friday, June 14, 2013 Raids turn expat lives topsy-turvy See Page 4 KUWAIT: Police stuff arrested workers into the back of an SUV during a raid in Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh on Wednesday. — Photo by Fouad Al-Shaikh FRIDAY, JUNE 14, 2013 Local @thenewme20 @thenewme20 @thenewme20 @thenewme20 @thenewme20 SEND US YOUR INSTAGRAM PICS hat’s more fun than clicking a beautiful picture? Sharing it Wwith others! This summer, let other people see the way you see Kuwait - through your lens. Friday Times will fea- ture snapshots of Kuwait through Instagram feeds. If you want to share your Instagram photos, email us at [email protected] @thenewme20 @thenewme20 Local FRIDAY, JUNE 14, 2013 Kuwait’s my business Conspiracy Theories Here’s why you don’t Dollar deal!!! love your job, but could By Badrya Darwish An unhappy franchisee can do more damage than an unhap- By John P Hayes py employee. One of the best requests I made as a CEO was to ask my controller to produce a list of our 200 franchisees in order of their monetary value to our company. In other words, I want- [email protected] [email protected] ed a rank ordered list showing how much money each franchisee paid us annually. When I got the list, I was shocked. The franchisees who I assumed were the most valuable were he hundred fils shop or half KD shop if the iring in the Kuwait public sector may not lend itself to not. At the top of the list, I’m embarrassed to say, were several item is of better quality - what is the story Hasking questions about a job candidate’s personality names that I didn’t even know. Then I asked the controller for T because the emphasis is not on matching the job to the same list, but to include each franchisee’s personality pro- with shops that sell such merchandise. All the employee. The emphasis is on providing jobs. But it’s a file. Amazingly, the top franchisees all had the same profile. of a sudden in the last couple of years, these much different story in the private sector, although most Equally as amazing, the bottom franchisees shared a profile, places have increased. They are in every souq. business owners and managers don’t treat it differently. Few too, but it was different than that of the top franchisees. companies spend any time matching the job to the employ- Really bad news They are always packed with shoppers. People ee. Consequently more employees are unhappy than happy, From there the news got worse. When we looked at the love to buy cheap things and this trend is not and all parties, including the employee, the employer, and last 25 franchises sold, we had sold them to the wrong per- only seen in Kuwait but even in the West. I see the customers, suffer as a result. sonalities. Those franchisees would end up in the bottom 25 many one-pound shops in London. In the US If you’re an employee, you want to be happy, and in fact, percent of our list. Franchisees at the bottom of the list you want to do the best possible job for your employer. If required more of our support and training than the top fran- and Canada, they have them too, but call them you’re an employer, you want happy employees who will chisees because they were not prepared for the job of a fran- one-dollar shops. productively help leverage your company’s assets, customers, chisee. Even worse news: Franchisees at the bottom of the list What is the secret of all these shops? Do they suppliers and stakeholders. complained more than the top franchisees, and they paid us sell goods made in China? If this is the case, Does your job stress you? the least amount of money. How did this happen? It hap- How are we doing with those goals? Not so well. pened because until we saw that list no one knew the ideal things around the world are imported from According to a 2012 poll by Bayt.com: 74 percent of employ- personality of a top-producing franchisee in our network. But China but they are made under the license of ees in the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region claim their once we figured it out, we didn’t sell a franchise again until the certain brands. Even big brand merchandis- job stresses them. A survey by the global market research we matched the job to the personality. firm, Ipsos, discovered that only 55 percent of US employees Do you love what you do? ers manufacture their goods in China under the love their jobs. What’s the problem? It’s complex, and any The late Steve Jobs told us that the only way to do great brands’ quality control. Such goods will be solution must address several socio-economic factors, but a work is to love what you do. And the best way to make sure much cheaper if produced in the East because huge first step is matching the job to the employee’s person- that your employees (or franchisees) love their work is to of the cheaper labour. I understand this mathe- ality. Unfortunately, no one seems to be listening. match the job to the personality. Want to find out how this The matchup is easy to do can help you? Email me. If you’re one of the first 12 people to matics but the math behind the one-dollar And yet, this matchup couldn’t be easier, especially with send me an email with the subject line: What’s my personali- shops is what I don’t get. the variety of tools that are available. As a speaker in the US, ty? I will assess your personality for free and tell you the kinds Do they sell illegal goods from factories “Leading With Your Personality” was my most popular semi- of work that you would love to do. nar. As a former CEO of a major American franchise brand, I shipped all over the world? I doubt it. If it is ille- insisted on using a personality profile before we hired key gal, there will not be so many at every corner. employees. Not only that, we would not sell a franchise Dr John P Hayes heads the Business Administration department Or is it that these are bad quality goods that are unless we could match the requirements of a franchisee’s job at GUST. Contact Dr Hayes at [email protected], not given certificates by the health authority in to the prospective franchisee’s personality. Franchisees are or via Twitter @drjohnhayes. By the way, he loves his work not employees, but this matchup is still critically important. because he’s a perfect match for the job the country of origin. The reason why I am ask- ing is because I have heard of many stories about the bad quality of goods. Many people bought plastic plates, cups and what not which In my view turned out to be creating health hazard issues. If this is the case, why are these available in the Legal and illegal expats shops? I heard that often these kinds of merchandise are made of recycled material. I heard cannot be treated alike that even many sell defective imported goods. Are these made in illegal factories or sweat- By Labeed Abdal shops? One-dollar shops are interesting places. They sell pens, plates, souvenirs, garden equipment, party items and what not. I personally see a lot [email protected] of cosmetics. This is where I want to question how safe are they. If it comes to food, the dollar eporting the whole family of an expat who has vio- those who are facing genuine problems and wish to either store is a big no-no place to shop. In such Dlated Kuwaiti laws, particularly if his wife and chil- work here or seek asylum for humanitarian reasons. Such places, I am not sure what the origin of the food dren hold dependent visas, calls for a little reconsid- cases highlight the need for modernisation, flexibility and eration. The rule of law states that irrespective of the more reasoning on our part. is. degree of violation a person might have committed, the Although, we have seen many of our senior officials from Lately, I saw vitamins and energy pills in punishment should not be extended to his family mem- the Ministry of Interior (MOI) show a lot of understanding those places. If I were you, I would avoid it. I bers. Even the constitution of Kuwait states that punish- while dealing with such cases, we also hear negative stories ment must be personal. It is good that law-violating expats about some lower-ranking officials and their random raids. would advise you to buy it from the local phar- will be allowed to designate a person to follow up their cas- That indeed is a cause for much concern. We must enforce macy. Towels are OK to buy because you can es until the completion of their deportation-related proce- the law in a responsible fashion, ensure that the rights of always throw them if they smell. But if you swal- dures. Maybe here I would like to point out a few things: expats are never infringed upon by public employees and low something, it is not so easy to recover.

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