Downsizing Essay

The “lean and mean” organization resulting from downsizing has given way to emerging management concepts such as employee empowerment and self-managed work teams. These characteristics of the current workplace, in combination with a rise in the use of contingent labour, signify a serious cultural shift away from the traditional “pre-downsizing-era” workplace. Hierarchical, bureaucratic organizations which offered employment for life

On the other hand, the success of the company is in large part due to the hard work of the staff who would lose their employment. In addition, it must be determined who would perform the work of the dismissed employees and if the company would be able to function without them. Moreover, the morale and productivity

* Downsizing: Reduction of the business portfolio by eliminating products and businesses units that aren’t profitable.

Downsizing refers to the voluntary actions on the part of organizations to reduce the overall size of their workforce, generally to reduce costs. The disadvantages of downsizing in a survey by the American Society of

Another reason is that advances in technology influence the way jobs are performed. For example, Tesco now have self-service machines so fewer employees will be recruited to work on the tills and instead they are able to stock the shelves and increase sales. Also, another reason is that there may be staff being promoted internally which means somebody already working for a company gets a promotion to a higher job. Therefore, their former role will need to be filled by recruiting someone new.

Downsizing is never easy on the Human Resource department. In fact, if not handled properly, it could be detrimental to the overall organization. Here are some challenges that come along with downsizing: Addressing the shifting morale and needs of the surviving employees, maintaining the productivity and profitability of the organization, and retaining skilled, and qualified employees.

teachers over the next seven years to help reduce class sizes to reach the national

A corporation needs to have a strategic plan in place in order for them to be able to implement a downsizing. There are many pros and cons to downsizing and it has a ripple effect on everyone in the corporation. Depending on the planning of the downsizing, one of the big issues to decide on is how to choose who will be terminated. For example, do you go by seniority, a percentage from all departments, an entire department, or by job level or position? These are major options that need to be addressed before anything happens. Most corporations today exist less for the well being of employees than they

Downsizing has become a commonplace strategy for organizations to adopt in an effort to cut costs, eliminate redundancies, and streamline organizational systems. Over the last 15 years, many organizations have engaged in downsizing more than once. Most companies have learned from the mistakes of the past, but some companies are still trying to use the same tactics today that were used in the mid 1980s, that leave employees reeling.

Many companies look to salaries and benefits as the first places to cut back when looking to make changes that involve cost-saving. When this happens, it is inevitable that some employees will leave the company to seek employment elsewhere. The employees that remain, whether they stay voluntarily or because they could not find employment elsewhere, are often resentful. Motivation decreases, taking job performance along with it. Employees lose their company loyalty and may even become angry enough to purposefully sabotage the company.

A critical factor to the success of any company is its ability to attract top talent while retaining those already working within the company. Losing employees can have a significant impact on a company’s morale, productivity and overall profit.

The reenergizing employees after a downsizing case study, explains the potential effects of downsizing a company, on both employees and the manager. Andrea Zuckerman is the editor in chief of Blaze and the person who must relay the message to the entire company. It is made clear throughout the case that Andrea does not agree with this downsizing and feels that it is wrong. However, due to the newspaper industry dwindling away and many people now reading the news from a mobile device, it must be done. Andrea’s biggest conflict is figuring out how to properly explain this downsizing to employees, as this is no easy task. The “new normal” that will be implemented consists of merging the five areas of reporting into either two or three. As said, explaining this situation to employees in a reasonable and understanding manner will be a complex task.

|benefits, transition services for those being downsized, and adequate attention to "survivors" - the employees left |

The downsizing of a company can affect employees before, during and after it occurs. Employees usually know of a possible downsizing, care of the almighty grapevine, months before it is supposed to happen. Thus, employees may become paranoid and self-absorbed, and their top priority is their own career rather than the bottom line of their employer. This causes them to be unfocused and prevents them from performing their jobs efficiently. Many workers would also be perfectly willing to stab their peers in the back in hopes of keeping their job. Usually when a downsizing is complete, the company is at an all-time low. This is due to the fact that in almost every merger, acquisition or downsize, employees are faced with uncertainty about their jobs before and after the restructure. After a large percentage of downsizes, ten percent of the remaining workforce will easily adapt to the change, while another ten percent will never adapt. Workers who survive the downsize often have feelings of anger, fear or distrust. Further internal problems result from employees who survive with the company, but cannot adapt to their new settings and expectations, and eventually quit their job.

According to Bloomberg, the retail sector is experiencing staff turnover rate of roughly 5% per month. In following the trend, Wal-Mart would lose 60% of employees on average (Mayer & Noiseux, 2015). Employees site multiple reasons for leaving voluntarily or termination due to lack of job training, and employee recognition Lieb & Lieb, 2013). Companies currently have less than stellar strategies retaining employees resulting in the high turnover rates, which affect profitability (Das, 2015).