Walking into the office of City Developments Limited (CDL), the first thing that stands out is the stickers and mobiles with the slogans “Be happy” and “Have a happy life” adorning the walls, office cubicles and even the coffee cups.

These decorations emphasise the company’s strong belief that “a healthy mind makes a healthy life for employees”, explains assistant general manger and head of HR, Sherine Toh. Happy employees are venerated by the company because they were the crucial link to its survival throughout the turbulent times brought on by the 1997 Asian financial crisis and 2002 SARS outbreak. “How the company survived is we have people who think positively and think that they would survive to make the company survive,” Toh says.

Hence, there is a sense of optimism even though CDL posted an 11% drop from last quarter’s profits in its recent Q3 financials. Having been there and done that, the real estate developer is now better prepared to roll with any punches thrown by the financial tsunami.

Understanding the past

Even as recent as six years ago when the construction and property sector was down on its knees, CDL had to tighten its belt by means of constraining employee benefits. Only basics such as health, insurance and medical provisions were provided. Sick employees were also told to visit only company-selected doctors to save on medical costs. Through tightly controlled spending, CDL never had to resort to job or pay cuts and its business philosophy has been focused on keeping operations lean and mean.

Cautious spending has always been key for the company, says Toh. “We operate in a very thrifty and frugal manner, spending only when necessary. Especially during this downturn, we are very watchful over our recruitment spending.”

Even though Toh only came onboard two years ago, she has taken it upon herself to study the impact the crises had on the company. Understanding the cost-saving steps the company took during the turbulent years helps articulate cost-cutting objectives to her staff better. Employees would also “put in their best effort to do a better job” in cushioning the company from any financial fallout. “It becomes everybody’s job. Everybody gets internalised into this cost containment as their way of life.”

Shedding excess weight

To cope with the slowdown of projects and headcount freezes during the Asian financial crisis and SARS outbreak, CDL practised manpower redeployment, otherwise known as job enrichment and job enlargement. Toh says, “Certain positions may not be replaced, headcount budgeted initially may not be fulfilled. People have to multitask or work on other jobs that are more in need of people, which is very cost effective.”

Another area of CDL’s cost containment strategy includes saving on utility and general office expenses. While some companies might scoff at such modest cost saving measures, Toh says this environmental policy has helped maintain a low overhead for the company.

Excessive costs such as non-essential corporate travelling were also cut, with video and phone conferencing taking over. Costly work-life activities and grand company events also took a backseat during the belt tightening period. Instead, Toh says, “We try to motivate employees from a very affordable intrinsic manner rather than give them monetary or a big ticket item as benefits.”

“Value for money” and “creative planning” became the new bywords for any employee engagement programme. “We don’t use event organisers, we think out of the box, get our hands wet and get things done all by ourselves. That also allows us to build a lot of camaraderie and effectiveness at a lower cost.”

Allowing employees to leave work one hour earlier than usual on the last day of school terms to spend time with their families is another innovative work-life practice the company has implemented, says Toh. “It’s not expensive, and there is much value-add to the people.”

Rallying the troops

Besides attending to employees’ wellbeing, another key aspect to survival is keeping the company financially sound.

Referring to the Q3 financials, Toh says even if actual profits are less than the targeted figures, strong financial returns from previous years have placed the company in good stead to weather the current crisis. Yet this is not the time to rest on one's laurels as Toh reiterates the need for caution even though the company is not in the red. “Even the richest man cannot guarantee he would be rich forever so we have to be very cautious about our spending to brave even heavier storms to come.”

While CDL hopes to continue rewarding employees with bonuses in accordance to the profits and avoid retrenchment exercises, its employees are, nevertheless, asked to continue working hard for their rewards. “There is no free lunch. Especially during downturn when the market is so competitive, they have to buck up to be very good and treasure what they have [as] there are harsher environment elsewhere.”

“With that mindset, I believe we still be able to fight through the very difficult period to come.”