Prasad defends RIBA over YRM missing wages furore
Sunand Prasad
Former president says RIBA needs to be “very careful” before criticising stricken firms
A former president of RIBA has defended its silence on the recent problems engulfing Austin Smith-Lord and YRM which saw staff made redundant owed thousands of pounds in missing wages.
Sunand Prasad held the top spot at the RIBA for two years between 2007 and 2009 before being succeeded by Ruth Reed.
During their time, Prasad and Reed were critical of companies that refused to pay students the minimum wage and under Reed the RIBA changed its membership rules to clamp down on firms that didn’t stick to the law on wages. Offenders were told that, from last July, they would be struck off if they continued to pay students nothing.
Bdonline has been peppered with comments demanding that RIBA and the Arb do something about staff being laid off by firms such as Austin-Smith Lord and YRM and missing wages, pensions and redundancy pay.
But Prasad said it was much harder for RIBA to pass comment on companies that laid staff off having previously asked them to take wages holidays.
“You have to be very careful before jumping in and criticising a firm in extremis,” he said. “I can easily imagine directors genuinely believing a situation [suspending staff salaries] can be salvageable but it turns out they don’t get the cash they were expecting.”
He said there was “nothing wrong” passing comment on what was acceptable behaviour or not but warned criticising firms who made staff redundant owing them money was fraught with difficulty.
“You have to be very careful before you sound off making high-sounding statements,” he added. “You have to look at it on a case by case basis.”
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Readers' comments (12)
He should be careful of making comment on a situation he does not fully understand.
Suspending staff salaries should never be an option in any firm. Why should people be expected to go without monthly salaries as agreed within a written contract, because the directors have not got a handle on the cashflow situation of the company?
I think more thought should have been put into Mr Prasad's statements here!
i too am optimistic.... someone will buy out the company and the directors will keep getting paid their monthly salaries then employed by the new owners and getting rid of the lackeys we call architects!
Even if RIBA made one of those `high-sounding statements` - What would happen? Well let me explain. Nothing will happen because RIBA has no voice or legal standing.
Firms get into extremis by the deliberate decisions of their directors regarding what work to take on and how to resource it. It is genuinely hard sometimes to be able to predict a clients behaviour, however good business sense dictates that a firm does not go on willy-nilly stringing out staff once it becomes apparent that payment is a problem.
You owe your staff the truth about a situation, and in my experience it is always better to share with the team and try to reach some form of compromise, rather than just not pay them for a month or to whilst hoping the cash will come in. It rarely does, or at least not enough of it.
This is the third recession that I have worked through and there is a sad repeating pattern of practices that over-reach themselves, have difficultirs with clients and it is always the staff who suffer. In my experience the directors are generally well protected.
Still it's a tough profession and we go into it with our eyes open!
Both ARB and the RIBA should intervene in the YRM and RMJM
situation. Surely someone should be held to account for this
unexpected debacle.
Why, I wonder, little comment from those unfortunate staff owed wages and made redundant!
Robert Michaels
Its stipulated in both the RIBA and ARB Codes of Conduct that architects must act professionally at all times. Acts of gross incompetence and misconduct will result in the said architects being struck off both the RIBA and the ARB. I dont see what is so difficult to understand, its pretty much black and white to me. These people aren't worthy of the title of architect. Lets be rid of them. I do wish the RIBA would grow some backbone about such matters and not just leave it to the ARB. The RIBA haven't said a word about this. WHY NOT?
Nats,
The AJ online is running a parallel story that is titled;
ARB should 'strike off' firms that don't pay.
It states a group of past RIBA presidents are calling for a stronger line on this matter. I have not read the full article as I can't access it, but maybe Mr Prasad is the odd one out?
the sad thing, this has been going on for a while with smaller companies. repeating the same process time and time again.
Until the ARB and the RIBA start a debate and get involved in what can only be described as the darker side of business practice, this will never be discussed properly. Why be 'careful' who is Sunand protecting. Is he the protecting the profession or the shady world of business survival?
Until the officers at RIBA are drawn from the majority of its members, ie employees, it will always be the same.
RIBA = Royal Institute of Boss Architects, Loius Hellman, 1970's