Smart Ideas
Reducing the ranks
If you're fortunate enough to have avoided making employment cuts at your company, but you're not sure you're luck is going to hold out, you might want to consider a strategy recommended
By Drake Morin
Smart Business Pittsburgh | March 2002
"Our advice is to make the first staff reduction deep enough so that subsequent cutbacks can be avoided," says Bill Hollett, a senior vice president at Drake Beam Morin. "The goal is to cause minimal disruptions and trauma to the organization and its people; small, multiple reductions keep a company in turmoil."
Hollett offers some options for making cutbacks:
* Voluntary separations, in which employees nearing retirement age are offered incentives to retire early, or employees of any age are offered incentives to leave.
* Involuntary separation, in which the organization eliminates positions and employees are forced to leave at the company's discretion.
Hollett encourages companies to implement voluntary separation programs before resorting to involuntary measures, but points out that voluntary separation is more time-consuming and expensive, as employees will need more time to decide if they want to volunteer. Source: www.dbm.com
