Is laying off employees the right measure used for cutting costs by organisation?

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Do you think laying off employees under the cost cutting agenda is right? Is there any other innovative method that could be used by organizations in these tough times to cut costs as well as maintain employee morale?

 

[prithveesh88]

i think layin off ppl who r on d lesser side f performin well is right..
bt removin ppl who r doin gud will finaly hit d co by losin a effective workforce..
instead thy can contrl cost by reducin d infras exps, cut in employee benefits etc..

 

[YogeshTheDevil]

Well, laying off is just one of the way to cut costs, a few better way could be:
1. Diversify the business - look for new markets and motivate your existing staff to go for it - instead of hiring from outside for new markets

2. Reduce inefficiency in existing business - find innovative ways to cut costs - involve the whole organization in it by asking all to contribute ideas.

3. Think long-term - calculate costs too on a longer horizon - use the lean times to train employees - business will always not be down , but use this relatively idle to train employees on new skills - so that when business is back on track, the organization is not loosing precious time in trainings or hiring etc.

And even if a company has to lay employees off - do it in just way - the one which is correct legally as well as morally - which could be justified too (on performance, business etc basis ) - so that those employees who have not been given pink slip do not leave your company as soon as a better opportunity comes in their way...or even those who've been laid off don't resent it and try to tarnish its image.

 

[masterau]

Laying off people does offer the management an option to reduce the costs incurred by the company, but it does increase the workload on the existing employees which might take a toll on their performance.

Though layoff sure looks like its not the right measure for cost cutting, companies have always tried to work around it and have come up with various reasons to do so. Some times its evident and done as a compulsion and sometimes they do it on a long term basis.

Like now the companies are trying to widen the scope of roles and responsibilities of the employees by allowing them to take up multiple roles. This helps in reducing the requirement of multiple persons for multiple jobs, and helps the company in erasing the requirement of the persons at the job and thus allows them to lay off the employees.

 

[gaurav_22nov]

Laying offs are short term decisions leading to long term wounds.