There is an interesting article on Inc.com discussing the pros and cons of layoffs vs. furloughs. The article is written by Kelly Faircloth, and she writes how furloughs are not for eveyr company. She talks about the across-the-board aspect of furlough that may cause the more senior or more skilled workers to resent the fact they are being reduced equally with the less experienced workers.
But then laying off workers means you may lose them to other companies. You don’t want to discover your more valued employees have moved over to your competitors. With the economy as bad as it is, there are signs of a rebound. If the economy does start to recover you will need your talent. If they are gone, it’s bad. If they are now working for your competitors, informing them of inside secrets and all, then it’s worse yet.
The other factor no being taken into account in the article is that when you layoff workers and have to hire new ones, then you may overload your Human Resources personnel with applications reviews, interviews, deadlines, and preemployment screening. You will be paying for background checks, which are relatively nominal unless of course you are recruiting a large number of candidates. Then there is the expense and time consumption of training your new employees and bringing them up to speed. And then…there are the new employees who you may discover will never come up to speed. Sigh. Here comes another round of recruitment.
Honestly, after weighing the pros and cons, I am more in favor of reducing work hours than in laying off workers. It may well be the smarter move int he long term. As with the stock market, you never know when it can turnaround. If you are not in place and not prepared for the economic recovery then you may lose.
Check them out before you hire.
