Exec MBA Search Exec. The San Francisco-based discount broker also has a hiring freeze in place and even toyed with the idea of instituting three mandatory Fridays off for thousands of employees before discovering that the plan raised some legal concerns. Taking the three designated days off is now voluntary. But so far, no one has gotten the boot because of belt-tightening, spokesman Glen Mathison says.
Senior managers are often the ones who screw up or make bad decisions.
But when there are layoffs, they tend to involve other people. On occasion, of course, a company's fortunes fall so quickly that such a step is unavoidable. And sometimes, when listless management has allowed an organization to become too flabby, there's fat to trim. They don't look often enough at doing things like concentrating on the most productive areas and moving people around to fill those jobs. You often lose very good people because when you lay them off, they're not going to sit there waiting to be recalled.