Employees, Clients and Business Owners Must Help, Not Exploit One Another
People wear face masks at the central market in Phnom Penh on January 29, 2020 (AFP)
- Letter to Editor
- March 17, 2020 9:29 AM
The outbreak of COVID-19 is affecting the survival of many businesses across the borders. One way or another this is happening in Cambodia as well. A certain number of production lines and trading activities have already been forced to close and there remains much uncertainty about how things will end. Yet, some business owners have made the decision to close their businesses due to the dangerously low number of customers. In this stressful situation, what are the possible ways that the customers, the employees, the landlords and the business owners can help in order to create relief?
Avoid exploiting one another during a time of distress. Instead, it is a time in which help is highly needed!
People selling or distributing face masks and hand sanitizer must not engage in price-gouging and make the products more expensive.
Employees must understand the challenges that their employers are facing right now. Employers cannot make enough revenue. On the flip side, the employers must be aware that their employees are relying on them as well.
The creditors (Such as banks and microfinances) should also think about their debtors. In return, the debtors should be aware that those creditors also require paid manpower in order to operate their services.
The landlords must lower their rent price for the tenants who are unable to cope with the current economic disruption. When businesses collapse, more will become unemployed and basic needs like housing are going to be crucial for containing the spread of COVID-19.
To conclude this idea, employees, customers, business owners and landlords must relieve the burden from each other, and refrain from trying to capitalize on the weaknesses of the vulnerable. The culture of sharing and the culture of leaving no-one behind should exist within the core value of the Khmer society as well as the broader world. We are all too connected to turn on one another now.
Reader’s opinion: Mr. Lim Rachana (A citizen of Phnom Penh)
