Four days to save your business
How is the recession treating you and your business? Picking over the spreadsheets, you may have to make difficult decisions in the near future, if you haven’t done so already.
One of the toughest calls for any business is making staff redundant. Not only is there a sense of responsibility for those who have loyally stood by the company, but ultimately it leads to the loss of skills vital to output.
However, there is an alternative to consider, one that is becoming increasingly popular – the four day working week.
Business Week has highlighted several US companies that have reduced the hours of their workforce during the current economic gloom. Why don’t they simply put staff out of their misery and make them redundant? Because the companies don’t want to lose skilled staff that’ll be difficult to replace should the economy bounce back sooner than expected. Making redundant people integral to manufacturing and production would hinder a company’s ability to respond to an unexpected uplift in business.
That’s not the only reason, however, according to Business Week:
In Atlanta, Mayor Shirley Franklin is cutting the hours and pay of 4,600 employees by 10% because the city is facing a $50 million budget shortfall. Franklin says that if she were to lay off more workers instead of slashing hours, “you’d have to eliminate major functions of the government. It’s not just jobs we’ve saved, it’s services.”
With unemployment expected to rise sharply in 2009, you may find your people are willing to accept a shorter working week. It’s a win-win outcome for companies – overheads are reduced and the skilled workforce is retained, meaning a business is well placed to meet demand once the economy improves.
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Tags: 4 day working week, business week, staffing