One Company Avoiding Layoffs

from the amazing dept

Since very early on in the tech downturn, I've been posting a series of articles trying to convince people that doing so many layoffs is often dangerous for the long term health of the company. However, in a world where costs are the entire focus of Wall Street, and the "benefit" side of the equation is usually ignored, companies are cutting left and right. Certainly, it's sometimes useful to cut the fat off, and get rid of employees who are more trouble than they're worth, but most companies have gone way beyond that. Here's the first story I've seen in all this time about a company that has done everything possible to avoid having to lay anyone off. Xilinx, makers of FPGAs, has been careful to keep its employees happy. Sure, there have been some cutbacks, but they've been done in a way to keep employees loyal to the company, and keep the company well positioned for whenever the economy picks up again. They even did salary cuts the right way: making sure that top management had the biggest cuts, rather than rewarding them with fat bonuses for "successfully restructuring" the company. It's a good example of a company realizing that what Wall Street is screaming for isn't always in the best long-term interests of the company. Good for them.

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