Planning for 2009 – Does your staff know better?

With the backdrop of deep global recession, many companies may feel a good way to control costs is by terminating employees. This type of approach indicates that senior management thinks of employees as a cost, not an asset.

For some desperate companies, this may be the only hope for survival. But for stronger companies who may be hurt but not killed by the recession, protecting and preserving the workforce should be a priority. When you lay off employees, you lose all that you’ve invested in them. You lose their experience of how to do the job. You lose their connections, inside and outside the company. You lose their ability to do their job effectively because of their knowledge of process and policy.

What’s the answer? Employees know times are tough, and some firms are reaching agreement with staff to avoid layoffs by reducing hours, benefits, or salaries instead of layoffs.

To learn more about this trend, read this N.Y. Times article from December 22.  Mike Oleksak   2008