GEN1578 “My job is to restructure a bloated company. Should I be trying to fire as many people as possible, or just enough to make the company reasonably profitable?” A manager is hired to work on behalf of the business owners. And it is a basic principle of Jewish law and tradition that an employee or agent should do his utmost for his employer. A worker “Is required to work with all his strength.”
Shulhan Arukh, Hoshpat Mishpat 337:20 A fine example is the biblical figure of Joseph, who demonstrated exemplary devotion to the interests of his higher-ups, whether in the house of Potiphar, in the prison, or in the Royal Palace. We might assume, then, that the manager should do everything in his power to cut costs, including slashing a number of jobs to the bare minimum, in order to increase value for the owners. But a broader look at the Jewish sources shows that a more balanced approach is called for. The owners have certain ethical responsibilities toward their employees, and these ethical responsibilities of ownership are delegated to the manager just as the commercial responsibilities are. Jewish tradition gives the employer a special responsibility to consider the welfare of his employees because of their dependent status. For example, he is required to pay them on time: “Give him his pay on the same day, do not let the sun go down on it; for he is poor and his heart is set on it.”
Deuteronomy 24:15 In a famous case in the Talmud,
Baba Metzia 83a some movers accidentally broke a cask of wine belonging to a prominent sage. When the sage wanted to sue them for damages, his teacher admonished him that under the circumstances the fair thing to do was to leave the workers alone and even pay them their wages. The workers toil on behalf of the employer and so the employer has a special responsibility two look after their needs to the extent of his ability. The Talmud also teaches us that it’s spiteful for a manager to bargain workers down to the lowest possible wage if the employer is willing to pay more.
Baba Metzia 76a This does not mean that an employer has to pay any particular number of workers or pay any particular wage. On the contrary, the norm in Jewish law is that a worker may be fired for reasonable cause. But it does mean that the welfare of the workers should be one of the many factors that go in the making policy; this probably rules out firing “as many people as possible.” … It is true that the manager is the representative of the owners. But just as he should faithfully represent their economic interest, so should he faithfully represent their ethical interest, including their responsibility to treat employees thoughtfully. So while laying off workers to increase the firms earnings is not inherently unethical, you should try and adopt a balanced approach. Remember that Joseph realized that it was ultimately in Pharaoh’s own interest to adopt the humane policy of turning Egypt’s farmers into independent partners instead of subordinate slaves [this verse]. MEIR 149-50
SHOW FULL EXCERPT