Local business owner talks about staff problems in Seminyak Bali

Wednesday I talked to a local business owner in Seminyak. He told me he was having trouble with his staff and had caught them all stealing. For a foreigner trying to run a business, particularly one that has merchandise, this is a problem. The owner has been in Bali for over 10 years and generally has a good relationship with his staff. After the bombing he paid them while there was no business, some of the staff not even coming to work, but still getting paid. He told me he has discovered a group of his staff had organised a process of stealing and after interviewing all he staff separately had found out they encouraged each other to come up with more creative ways to steal.

Here in Bali it's a passive aggressive thing. People will smile while they are trying to pull one over on you, then laugh when they get caught.

I suggested maybe he should give the staff a bonus for how much is in the cash register and for profitability, then it would be in their interest not to steal. "I already pay them 1.1mrp per month." He said, "Some of them get 1.5m rp." He also said he buys them lunch and once a week western food if they want it, along with t-shirts and gives them a wholesale price on his goods.

I commented that maybe in Balinese culture, which has a socialist style concept of people helping each other, it seems natural for some people to make the conclusion that to take from someone with more than you is okay. My friend said "I think this is a 'taking culture', everybody saying 'give me give me'."

I really enjoy the Balinese culture and respect the fact that their concept of sharing and justice is different than mine. The western idea of wealth accumulation really kicked into gear about 300 years ago in western Europe. Protestant families started having fewer kids and focused on education and wealth. The western idea of mine and yours and 'if you can't make it in life means you're a lazy bastard' doesn't fit in Balinese culture. I remember hearing about an American guy who came out to Bali several years ago to make soap. Living out in East Bali under a bale every night the locals would bring him food because they saw he had nothing. To them it was natural. If he showed up in a Mercedes and built a house it would be different. The problems the Four Seasons Sayan have up in Ubud are partly because they won't give the locals the pigs and chickens they ask for ceremonies.

I said to my friend that the situation will only change when Balinese see the value in long-term business relationships. "That will never happen," he said, "the few who have realised that are already very rich."

Opening a business in Bali can be fun but there are pitfalls.