In a thriving economy, business is good and it is considered to be operating at peak performance. Workers are mostly salaried or full-time, business is expanding, and investments are being made. People are buying houses, cars, planning vacations, and basically spending their discretionary income. But what happens when the economy begins to contract and the economy goes into a downturn?
On the one side, businesses begin to strategize for the short haul and make tough decisions to decrease its expenses. The last expense to be cut is the work force, but it's also the most detrimental and results in more work! When employees are let go in various departments, then the other employees begin to experience stress as they have to take up the slack and handle the work of those lost employees. The company is also losing knowledgeable staff and will have to retrain at some point in the future. But something less apparent is the loss of a team environment. As more employees are let go, a sense of deflation occurs among other employees as their team is shrinking and their workload is expanding.
On the other side, employees begin to stress about being laid off and how to pay their bills. Are they going to be able to find another job? Where are they going to go when their savings runs out? What is going to be the economic effect of not being able to pay their debtors?
Laying off workers while in an economic downturn is like casting people overboard in the middle of the ocean. Everyone loses. Is there an alternative to cutting the workforce after all other expenses have been analyzed?
When a company faces the labor expense dilemma, here is the alternative. If the goal is to decrease payroll expenses by 400 hours per week, instead of eliminating 10 employees, try reducing the hours of all employees until 400 hours have been eliminated. If there are different departments of pay scale, upper salaried positions can handle a greater reduction in their salary until the economy recovers. This way every employee still has income, every employee has more personal time, every employee shares in the pain, and the company retains talent and knowledge while cutting expenses. Truthfully, it is a better deal. The only issue they might have to consider is perhaps dining out less rather than their house going into foreclosure.
In addition, consider other expenses to surgically remove like utility expenses by reducing the workweek to Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, keep the office open 10 hours each day, then close the office Thursday and Friday. Or some form of this. This would allow portions or all of the building to be turned off to save on utility expenses, which would in turn have other cost-cutting benefits. It would save employees in gas expenses driving to and from work. Also, it would save in daycare expenses for those who pay for daycare. In 2008, Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman instituted the first state mandated 4 day work week in order to "to reduce the state's carbon footprint, increase energy efficiency, improve customer service and provide workers more flexibility."
If there is work that can be done at home, allow the employee to do it at home and pay them for it. As long as the work is completed, it shouldn't matter where it is performed.
But what about changes in health insurance coverage? On the one hand, companies should ask for alternative health insurance plans to provide minimum to medium coverage for these full-time workers becoming new part-time workers, depending on the individual worker's needs. And they should find a new insurance company if theirs will not provide this type of coverage. Getting rid of dental and vision insurance and just setting aside money for this at home is sufficient. Health insurance plans are expensive even for full-time workers and for those who never or hardly ever get sick, it seems like the cost outweighs the benefit. There should be options available.
On the other hand, for instance, because I never get sick enough for doctor visits and I have no other health problems, I took accident health coverage only when I worked at a pediatricians office which greatly reduced my health insurance. But I also adhere to a extremely healthy diet and exercise regularly. People should feel and be healthy if they educate themselves on healthy eating and follow it, exercise, get enough sleep, and take better care of themselves. More personal time from part-time work means more energy to cook healthy meals at home and taking better care of themselves which would cut down on the need for expensive health coverage plans.
On the other hand, for instance, because I never get sick enough for doctor visits and I have no other health problems, I took accident health coverage only when I worked at a pediatricians office which greatly reduced my health insurance. But I also adhere to a extremely healthy diet and exercise regularly. People should feel and be healthy if they educate themselves on healthy eating and follow it, exercise, get enough sleep, and take better care of themselves. More personal time from part-time work means more energy to cook healthy meals at home and taking better care of themselves which would cut down on the need for expensive health coverage plans.
On a last note, some companies may be worried that a valuable employee may leave the company if he or she found another full-time job. If this happens, then that employee isn't committed to the company, which may indicate that the company isn't employee friendly and not a great place to work. This may be a time to rethink the way the company treats its employees and job perks like flexibility, autonomy, more part-time positions, and more work-from-home options.
Ideas must be discussed on how to bring 'work' into the 21 century and make it more life-friendly so that people can become empowered by their lives and live a more positive human experience. We have limited energy each day, and we spend a lot of it in 20th century work styles. It's time for new constructs, new ideas, and new thought processes. We must stop throwing people overboard.
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