Close
  • Latest News
  • Cybersecurity
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Mobile
  • Networking
  • Storage
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Menu
Search
  • Latest News
  • Cybersecurity
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Mobile
  • Networking
  • Storage
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Blogs Careers
    • Blogs
    • Careers

    To Lay Off or Not Lay Off?

    By
    Donald Sears
    -
    April 23, 2009
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      That is the question that many companies answer by a resounding “Unfortunately, yes.”

      But some companies are questioning the wisdom in layoffs if an economic turnaround comes in the next year. According to the WSJ, a recent Hewitt Associates survey of 518 large U.S. companies found that 54 percent think the recovery will happen late 2009 to early 2010.

      While it’s nice to hear something positive in recovery expectations, it’s not particularly comforting given the news around layoffs and unemployment. Just today the Department of Labor released revised unemployment numbers for the last week that show another increase: From the DOL release: “In the week ending April 18, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 640,000, an increase of 27,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 613,000.”

      That puts the new “advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment” number at 6,137,000.

      There are many ways to reduce costs while keeping employees–think pay cuts, hourly reductions, decreased benefits–even paid time off with no loss of job (lucky, bastards).

      Meanwhile, the issue for those companies in the must-reduce-costs-right-freaking-now bracket, layoffs are simply the quickest, most expedient way to get numbers off the books. But what about all the severance and rehiring costs once things turn around? From the WSJ article:

      “Peter Cappelli, professor of management at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, says shorter workweeks and mandatory furloughs could be better options for companies that sense a turnaround coming. “Once business comes back, no one is quitting over a furlough,” he says.Others say that salary cuts save jobs. Arnold Worldwide, a Boston-based advertising agency with 800 employees, implemented a tiered salary cut in April. Chief Executive Fran Kelly says the measure helped him “dramatically decrease” the number of required layoffs.In addition, he says, he won’t “lose great people, have severance expenses and have clients whose services become disrupted.”“

      Looking at these unemployment figures from the DOL, it’s amazing to see the weekly raw data on the effects of recession on blue collar workers. While the numbers are not necessarily large week to week, they speak volumes. When you look at the state-supplied comments on state-by-state trends, the overall decline in manufacturing, construction and services is astounding.

      It’s not new news, by any stretch, it simply continues to decline.

      Avatar
      Donald Sears

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Android

      Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro: Durability for Tough...

      Chris Preimesberger - December 5, 2020 0
      Have you ever dropped your phone, winced and felt the pain as it hit the sidewalk? Either the screen splintered like a windshield being...
      Read more
      Cloud

      Why Data Security Will Face Even Harsher...

      Chris Preimesberger - December 1, 2020 0
      Who would know more about details of the hacking process than an actual former career hacker? And who wants to understand all they can...
      Read more
      Cybersecurity

      How Veritas Is Shining a Light Into...

      eWEEK EDITORS - September 25, 2020 0
      Protecting data has always been one of the most important tasks in all of IT, yet as more companies become data companies at the...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      How NVIDIA A100 Station Brings Data Center...

      Zeus Kerravala - November 18, 2020 0
      There’s little debate that graphics processor unit manufacturer NVIDIA is the de facto standard when it comes to providing silicon to power machine learning...
      Read more
      Apple

      Why iPhone 12 Pro Makes Sense for...

      Wayne Rash - November 26, 2020 0
      If you’ve been watching the Apple commercials for the past three weeks, you already know what the company thinks will happen if you buy...
      Read more
      eWeek


      Contact Us | About | Sitemap

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      Terms of Service | Privacy Notice | Advertise | California - Do Not Sell My Information

      © 2021 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×