Radu Timis, CrisTim: We laid off 5% of our employees

Businessman Radu Timis, owner of charcuterie producer CrisTim, with consolidated business worth over 130 million euros in 2008 and 2,000 employees, says employee productivity has increased 15% since the beginning of the year, after the company decided to make 5% of the employees redundant, i.e. 100 staff, with increased efficiency in mind. "The fact that we couldn't hire enough people to meet our staffing needs from Romania, and had to bring people from abroad left room for our employees to behave improperly. They spent about 20% of their working days on medical leave in order to work the land in spring and in autumn. Sometimes employees went as far as working half the working days, and staying home the other half. This isn't happening any more," Timis says. The reduction in the number of employees had been an ongoing process, which was accelerated when the first effects of the financial crisis were felt.