Chapter 122 The Donkey Effect

A quarry and a stone factory work differently.

Technical workers work in two shifts, but large trucks can only transport goods during the day. There is only one reason for this: the road is difficult to travel on.

In addition, working outdoors is already difficult, and many people don't want to do it after a few days.

In the year since the factory opened, most of the people who stayed were from the village. This time, most of the people who were transferred to the factory went there, and the ones who were transferred were the drivers who had previously worked there.

Most of these people are young men who are very good at being lazy and fooling around.

Tian Xin understood Zhang Guofeng's concerns. If these people couldn't hold on and left, it would be very troublesome later.

"It's the same old saying, survival of the fittest!" Li Baiwan said, "If they really can't hold on, just let them go! The purpose of the job transfer is to catch these people and avoid layoffs!"

"But this isn't a long-term solution, Factory Director," said Zhang Guofeng. "Changing staff too frequently isn't a good idea either. We need to address the problem from the root."

Li Baiwan hesitated for a moment, lit his cigarette, took a puff, and said slowly: "Raising the wages of so many people is simply impossible at the moment!"

Having said this, Zhang Guofeng immediately understood and didn't say anything else.

Another explosion was heard in the distance, and Tian Xin felt a slight shaking under her feet.

When Zhang Guofeng heard the sound, he hurriedly said, "I have to go over and take a look. You guys go ahead!" Li Baiwan nodded. He turned around and hurried towards the mountain path. After a while, his back disappeared around the bend.

Tian Xin walked over, squatted on the embankment, looked into the distance, and asked casually: "Uncle, is it really impossible to increase this salary?"

Li Baiwan took the last puff of his cigarette and stubbed it out. He sighed and said, "Wages have to go up, but where will the money come from? Forget about raising wages. If production doesn't increase, it's hard to say whether we can get them paid on time."

"This..." Tian Xin was shocked. "Why is this happening? Hasn't everything been running smoothly? How come they can't even pay salaries?"

"Why else would they want to lay off employees? Last year's production was at least one million tons, so we should have made a profit. But we're always so short of money. I don't know what's going on."

"Oh! So, bonuses won't be paid, and employees will be laid off. Does that solve the problem?"

Tian Xin was speechless and said, "You've never thought about investigating this matter thoroughly. Don't always pick on these workers!"

Li Baiwan glared at her and said, "You are being disrespectful again."

"Uncle, let's talk about the matter!"

"Well, let's get down to business!" Li Baiwan said, "Give me some advice. How should we investigate? And who should we investigate?"

Tian Xin hesitated for a few seconds and didn't dare to continue.

If this gets serious, and the people above get pushed to the limit, they'll inevitably start making trouble for these workers. Things have just stabilized, so it's not appropriate to make a big move. The most important thing is to resolve the wage issue, maintain stability, and then find ways to increase production and boost efficiency.

When investigating someone, one shouldn't rush into it; one must proceed with a steady pace. She had always had a question in mind about the weighing room issue, but many questions remained unanswered. She had to find a chance to slowly investigate Zhang Feng.

"If you ask me, there's no need to raise the salary. Maybe we can retain people by changing the method!" Tian Xin said.

"Why are you talking about this again?" Li Baiwan was speechless. "What are you talking about?"

Tian Xin laughed awkwardly and turned to look at the forklift loading the truck in the distance: "I mean, I have an idea to solve the current problem in the quarry!"

"What solution? Tell me!" Li Baiwan saw that she seemed confident, so he turned around, curious about what good solution she could come up with.

This little girl always has a lot of clever ideas and is bold enough to say anything!

When Tian Xin saw Li Baiwan turn around, she said, "Uncle, have you heard of the donkey effect?"

"What?" Li Baiwan asked, "Donkey Effect?"

"Hmm! The donkey effect."

"What do you mean?"

Seeing Li Baiwan's curious face, she smiled and said, "You should know that in the early days, in order to save manpower, most families had a donkey to pull the mill..."

"I know that," Li Baiwan interrupted her. "When a donkey is turning a millstone, a carrot is hung in front of it. To eat the carrot, the donkey keeps turning. Is that what you mean?"

"Yes, that's it!" Tian Xin said with a smile.

Li Baiwan muttered speechlessly, "It's just a donkey pulling a millstone, but you're giving me the whole donkey effect! You almost scared me!"

Tian Xin laughed out loud at his expression: "Uncle, I'm not kidding you, this is called the donkey effect!"

"So what does this have to do with a pay raise?" Li Baiwan asked. "You can't ask me to dangle a carrot in front of each of these people! That's just empty talk!"

"You should be good at this!" Tian Xin teased, "A necessary skill for leadership!"

"Don't you dare talk nonsense? There are techniques for making big promises. Not everyone can do it, and not everyone can do it all day long. If you don't solve the problem, then it's useless. Don't do it!"

"Then you should take out this piece of cake and let everyone eat it!" said Tian Xin.

"The key is that I can't take it out! Didn't I just say that?"

"Even if ten people can't come up with ten cakes, we can at least come up with five!"

"What's the meaning?"

"Knead these five cakes into one big cake and show it to everyone!"

"Then what?"

"Then let these ten people go and grab it. Whoever is capable of grabbing it will own it!"

She spoke in a serious and resounding voice. Li Baiwan couldn't believe that such words could be spoken by a girl in her twenties.

"Rob? How?" he asked.

Tian Xin turned around and looked him in the eye, hesitantly saying, "Uncle, how do we rob them? Whether we can let them rob them or not, it all depends on you."

"What do you mean? Explain clearly." Li Baiwan frowned anxiously and took out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it: "Go on, explain it clearly."

Tian Xin smiled, pulled him down onto the embankment, and explained everything one sentence at a time. Li Baiwan would sometimes nod in agreement, sometimes frown in suspicion. The two of them kept asking and answering questions for nearly an hour. It wasn't until Zhang Guofeng came down and interrupted them that the topic ended.

"Director, you two haven't left yet?" Zhang Guofeng patted the dirt off his trouser legs and said with a smile, "It's almost time for lunch. Why don't you go back to the factory first?"

"No hurry!" Li Baiwan waved his hand and said, "That's right, Guofeng. Xiaotian and I have something to discuss later, so we can't go with you."

"Oh! That's fine, go ahead and do your thing!" Zhang Guofeng said, "Then I'll go back first. I'll be busy today, and I still have to explain the work process to these people in the factory this afternoon!"

Seeing that he was in a hurry to leave, Li Baiwan called out to him again: "Guofeng, don't leave yet! I still have something to tell you!"

"Oh!" Zhang Guofeng stopped and turned around: "You say!"

"Xiaotian, you go down first. I'll come down after I finish giving instructions to Section Chief Zhang!" He said to Tian Xin, and then reminded her: "Watch the car and don't run around!"

"Oh!" Tian Xin responded and turned to walk down the mountain.

Li Baiwan watched her walk down the slope before turning around.

Zhang Guofeng didn't know what he was going to say and frowned nervously.

Li Baiwan calmed himself down and said in a deep voice, "Notify the quarry. All employees will stop working for a day tomorrow and come to the factory for a meeting!"

Seeing Zhang Guofeng's serious expression, he took out a cigarette from his pocket and handed it to him, saying, "Remember, everyone must be present. No leave allowed!"