layoffs

Get Started Tips to Navigate Post-Recession, Pre-Recovery Flexible Downsizing

Cali Yost — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 07:19:17 -0400

Last week we heard from Scott Jones, a senior executive who is grappling with how to respond to an uneven recovery in his business. A year ago in the heat of the economic downturn, Jones’ company used organization wide salary cuts and furloughs to reduce operating and labor costs in order to minimize layoffs. Now read more

One Company Decides When to Say "When" in Next Phase of Flexible Downsizing

Cali Yost — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:53:50 -0400

As follow-up to last week’s post, “One Year Later: Next Stage of Flexible Downsizing Post-Recession, Pre-Recovery,” I interviewed Scott Jones*, a senior executive at a national architecture, engineering and construction company (he asked not be identified since many of the issues we discussed are not yet public knowledge within his organization).

One Year Later--Flexible Downsizing and Hard Choices Post-Recession, Pre-Recovery

Cali Yost — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:46:35 -0400

A year ago, the economic downturn was in full gear. As layoffs gained momentum, I loudly promoted a more flexible approach to downsizing as an alternative to knee jerk job cuts. If executed correctly and strategically, compressed workweeks, telecommuting, reduced schedules, furloughs and sabbaticals improve productivity and reduce costs in numerous areas (e.g labor costs, real estate overheads, operating costs), therefore, limiting or avoiding layoffs. Additionally, this very same

How to Drive a Stake into the Hearts of Shareholders

John A. Lee — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 21:16:32 -0400

Recently, I received an email from a reader of an article of mine who thanked me for being an Evangelist of Ethonomics. Evangelist of Ethonomics? I thought, hmmmm. . . is that what I am? Sounds like a 60s kind of guru, a cross between John Maynard Keynes and Aristotle.

According to Wikipedia, Ethonomics goes down as the “provisional name for the discipline of formally mapping and defining the prioritization of values within value systems.”

Tech Unemployment Bad, but Not That Bad

Chris Dannen — Tue, 26 May 2009 15:21:32 -0400

Earlier this month, hard drive maker Seagate became the latest tech firm to announce layoffs: 1100 cuts, or 2.5% of its workforce. But while unemployment in the technology sector accelerated in the first quarter of 2009, according to projections by the IEEE in a report published this week, it will pale in comparison to the job losses following the collapse of the tech bubble in 2001.

Time to Move from "If" Flex, to "Why" and "How" Flex...

Cali Yost — Sun, 03 May 2009 20:53:27 -0400

Over the past two weeks since we released the thought-provoking results of the 2009 Work+Life Fit Reality Check, I’ve been asked by a number of people what I think the findings mean. To me, the results confirm that it’s time, once and for all, to move the conversation from “If work life flexibility exists,” to answering the questions:

Recession and Work+Life Reality: Survey Finds Flex Unchanged, Careers Changed and Willingness to Sacrifice to Keep Job

Cali Yost — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 18:15:15 -0400

(Note: please forgive the funky font issues in the post--can't figure out what's going on)

Jobless Claims Rise to Record Levels, 20 Reasons to Promote Flexible Alternatives to Layoffs

Cali Yost — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 14:51:41 -0400

Today, the Department of Labor reported that first time jobless claims not only rose faster than expected but they were 72% higher than this time last year and reached levels not seen since October, 1982. With this news as a backdrop, it’s fortuitous that Marci Alboher, one of my favorite career experts, interviewed me in her new Working the New Economy blog on Yahoo!

iFive: Amazon's Jeff Bezos Gets to Work, Austin Shares Smart Cars, and 50 Cent Isn't Twittering? in Today's Innovation News

David Lidsky — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 05:22:01 -0400

While you were sleeping, innovation worked a double shift, popped a couple of brewskis, and then fell asleep in his work clothes. Here's today's innovation news:

Coaching to be Better, and to Move Over, Up and On

John Reddish — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 14:26:55 -0400

Coaches help their clients "move." Move to perform better, move up to new responsibilities or a bigger job. Seldom (except for entrepreneurial succession) has moving on been a key part of the agenda. Today, however, helping clients accept moving on as their best, and perhaps only, alternative, and helping the client make it happen is challenging coaches in new and creative ways.

Slippery Slope

Brian Reich — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 01:17:47 -0500

Economic times are tough.

People are spending less money.

Companies are struggling.

When companies struggle, they cut staff.

When companies cut staff, their service suffers - nobody to answer the phone, nobody to check quality.

When service suffers, customers get frustrated.

When customers get frustrated, they stop buying.

When customers stop buying, companies struggle more.

Its a slippery slope companies are on these days.

It’s Not Just the Market…Other Roadblocks to Flexible Downsizing as Alternative to Layoffs

Cali Yost — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 18:11:28 -0500

Last week I discussed the ways in which market pressures reward layoffs, discouraging more creative approaches to corporate downsizing. I believe that market pressure is a main motivation behind the immediate jump to “layoffs,” which ignores options like reduced schedules, job sharing and sabbaticals. But there are other less obvious influences that have been brought to my attention this past week. (For more, join me for the U.S. Dept.

Facebook Tries to Buy Twitter. Are They Insane?

Chris Dannen — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 14:10:46 -0500

There are two kinds of companies in the Valley: those that make money, and those that don't have to. As the economy worsens, the former group behaves like firms in other sectors, making cuts and revising earnings expectations. For the latter group, living in a VC-backed candyland, it's as good a time as any to spend half a billion dollars on something fun.

A Bailout for Journalists? Just Say No!

Anya Kamenetz — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 14:45:12 -0500

Yes, the layoff horror stories are piling up (Time Inc.! Conde Nast! USA Today!, and anxiety is growing in the stomach pits of all who scribble or otherwise modify text, audio, and video for a living.

Tech Watch: Cheap Nationwide WiFi

Chris Dannen — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 13:00:05 -0500

Opening these airwaves will mean unprecedented access to wireless transmission for small companies and startups that can't afford to license existing spectrum space from the government. The frequencies, which are long-range, would be perfect for broadcasting WiFi, and wouldn't require any licensing fees from companies that use it. That will drive ubiquity, much as openness on the short-range spectrum for Bluetooth and WiFi has for those technologies.

EBay Cuts 1600 Jobs

Chris Dannen — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 21:47:14 -0400

EBay [EBAY] is shaking things up in its corporate offices after making a series of changes to its site to keep usership high. The auction site announced today that as a result of this re-strategizing, it will be cutting 1600 jobs, which amounts to the biggest round of layoffs in the company's history. The cuts will make up 10% of the company's workforce. Only about 1,000 of the jobs will be full-time positions; the other 600 will be part-time and temp positions that will remain unfilled permanently. They will not all be domestic jobs.