20 things managers can do to prevent layoffs

According to cost reduction expert Steven Martin, "Mass layoffs are management's way of telling you they were asleep." In this excerpt from his article "Layoff: A Four-Letter Word in Any Economy," he pinpoints preventive business strategies that allow management to steer the organization away from the need to undergo mass layoffs. Here are a couple of examples:

Hire well. Sometimes it's better to have a position vacant than to hire poorly... especially in management. One bad manager can take down tens to thousands with them.

Stop shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic. If a business unit isn't achieving its goals, it is unlikely to get better if you just shuffle the staff around. Find the fundamental problems and fix them. Start with the top people. They set the tone.
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