Adams & Garth Blog

Laying off employees is never a welcome proposition. Not only does it mean that things are not going well at your company, but you also have to actually sit down face-to-face with your employees and let them go – no easy task.

So is there any way to avoid laying off employees? Here are some tips you may want to consider first:

Reduce the number of hours worked.
Consider creating four-day work weeks in order to reduce hours and salary, or ask your employees to trade in some of their pay for additional time off.

Institute a temporary pay cut.
Though most employees will protest, if it’s between a pay cut and a job loss, most will take the cut.

Allow attrition.
When an employee quits or retires from the company, don’t fill their position. Instead, assign their job duties to remaining employees at your company.

Encourage leaves of absence.
Allow employees to take leaves of absence with full benefits for a specified time period. However, make sure you promise them that they will have a job when they return, though it may not be the same position with the same salary.

Put a cap on overtime.
Put a limit on the amount of overtime employees are allowed to work. If you need employees to work a lot of overtime, consider bringing in some temporary employees instead. It may cost you less in the long run.

Offer an early retirement package.
Create and offer a retirement package to those employees who qualify.

Place a freeze on hiring.
Even if you’re going through a temporary increase in demand, don’t hire more staff until your company’s situation has truly stabilized. If you need extra help for a period of time, then consider bringing in some temporary employees.

Offer a shared ownership package.
Offer your employees the ability to trade pay for company stock.

Encourage job sharing.
Let some of your full-time employees convert to part-time employees and share certain job roles.

Use temporary staffing.
Meet a rise in demand without hiring more core staff or paying overtime by using temporary staffing.

At Adams & Garth, we’ve helped many companies throughout Charlottesville and Central Virginia to avoid laying off full-time employees through the use of strategic, temporary staffing. If your company is currently in a position where lay offs seem imminent, please contact us. We may be able to help.