In management circles, the conventional wisdom on layoffs is to cut once and cut deep enough to weather a downturn and keep surviving employees from getting the jitters. Microsoft went against that philosophy in January when it announced plans to eliminate up to 5,000 positions worldwide -- starting with 1,400 but stretching the rest out over 18 months.
This morning, the company accelerated its plans when it made additional layoffs that bring the total close to 5,000 much sooner than expected. But Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's memo to employees won't exactly instill a sense of calm in the people who remain.
"As we move forward," Ballmer wrote, "we will continue to closely monitor the impact of the economic downturn on the company and if necessary, take further actions on our cost structure including additional job eliminations."
To be sure, the situation reflects the unprecedented uncertainty in the economy right now. Microsoft also has taken the unusual step of suspending the earnings guidance it typically gives investors. But the company could have cushioned the blow to employee morale with a more definitive statement -- and perhaps even by making, at the outset, all of the job cuts it could possibly imagine needing to make.
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