Cut Costs Not People - Ways to Avoid Layoffs In An Organization

The fear looms when recession is around and the most obvious dread is that of the Pink Slip. The fear that is present here is not just in the person getting fired, but also the person firing. The best brand ambassador on an organization is its employees. A organization looses huge reputation and credibility when they layoff people.

Here are ways and alternatives on how avoid layoffs

1. Salary cuts starting from the top – This is an efficient way of saving an organization. People are a lot happier with a lesser income than NO income. A 50% cut in salary of the top most individual in the organization would probably save 50 jobs in the bottom

2. Re-visit Inventory – Cut on ‘Nice to Have inventory’ and be judicious. The classic example here could be to move to stop color print out and allow only black and white print outs. If the number of people occupying the work space in a building is loosely scattered across different floors, get them together and save on Air conditioning or Heating.

3. Sell, dont just donate or Trash – You probably may have a lot of old computers that your employees no longer use. At bad times it is better to find someone to buy them than just donating or trashing them.

4. Encourage longer working hours\weeks – People may groan initially, but they would prefer this to sitting at home idle with no work or salary. This would help you deliver better products at shorter times to your clients

5. Remove lunch subsidies – The saving from this can be huge especially if you have a lot of employees. People would be ok getting lunch from home

6. Avoid travelling abroad – As much as it is possible avoid sending people abroad. Look at alternatives like video conferencing to cut costs. If the travel is an absolute must, look at cheaper means like an economy ticket instead of a business class seat.

7. Aim at Zero Bench – Effectively use your existing bench strength to help out in marketing. This would avoid costs of additionally having people hired to make marketing collateral.

8. Inculcate Innovation – Encourage every employee to come up with one unique idea every fortnight to bring more value to the organization. You may probably get a lot of trash, but the chances of getting a couple of really good ideas are high. This might just be the life savior.

9. Slow down on Unnecessary Advertising – It does not sense to have trade booths at shows where nobody is really going to come. Use prudence when advertising.

10. The Last and the most important piece of Advice – Try eliminating all of the above suggestions in your organization as soon as possible, simply because your company is what it is because of the people in it. The happier they are, the better they perform. The suggestions above are definitely not the ones that would show happy faces in the short term, but your people will be loyal to you to have given them the support they needed at the worst of times.

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Copyright © Dennis D Maliekal