When Layoffs Cost Money
This weekend, the New York Times explored the cascade of sadness left behind after massive layoffs. Aside from fear, the Times noted that there can be a productivity downgrade that shows up in real economic terms.
Too often, their anxious and overworked remaining employees become risk-averse and unproductive, or leave for other jobs. As companies hire new workers or turn to outside vendors to compensate, the short-term savings from layoffs can evaporate.
The National Law Journal also has some stern advice for layoff-happy firms. According to Bruce McEwen of Adam Smith Esq., "law firms that slash associate numbers in hopes of keeping profits-per-partner high may be headed for trouble."
What else law firms can try, beyond going to $190K, after the jump.
Gauging associate demand for firm jobs is "somewhere on the spectrum between astrology and numerology," according to Morrison & Foerster Chairman Keith Wetmore. Sometimes layoffs are used as a method of course correction.
But are law firms sufficiently taking associate morale into account in their business models? Or are they just creating a corps of dispirited employees who will leave as soon as a happier opportunity comes their way?
There are no easy answers, but USC professor Warren Bennis said that it comes down to one word: respect.
[Bennis] decried bureaucracies that "lay down edicts" about cutbacks and treat employees as if they were invisible or indistinguishable -- the opposite, he said, of respecting them, which in essence means seeing them clearly and individually.
How much does respect cost nowadays?
After a Downsizing, How to Motivate? [New York Times]
Fast cuts could lead to regrets [National Law Journal]
(27) 
FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRRRRRRRRRRRRR
SSSSSSSSSSTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh yeah, it feels good!
What's that, your "Learned Hand?"
Guys in my high school used to auto-eroticize while posting first all the time. It was no big deal.
What is ATL's obsession with cats. Seriously, the pics are retarded beyond belief.
nice frat stud usage
I second # 6; the cat things is super lame and dorky
MORE LOLCATS!
huge faux pas in the LOLCAT by spelling you're correctly
I third #6, and #8, the only thing worse than the pictures of cats on ATL are the persistent "surveys" by Lateral Link. Both need to be gone. As of yesterday.
That's one hairy p-ssy.
Can't view the link - not a premium law.com subscriber.
you mean we aren't fungible tools?
Yay, more LOL cats! (This one is hilarious.)
Love the LOLcats, though agree with 10, should at least be "youz" or something instead of "you're"
It should be yur.
What's on that poor kitteh's head? I hope that's just his own hair and not ... ew.
love the lolcats...donno why lifeless douches are so bothered by pictures on a website
I usually like the lolcats, but this one's stupid -- the last person I want to think about is Donald Trump; he makes me gag.
Since I also can't view the link, this entire post is useless.
http://www.nylawyer.com/display.php/file=/news/08/08/082508b
neither link works. crappy post
this makes a lot of sense
layoffs actually cost money....right...and hiring people when there is no work for them makes money...i see it now
douchetards
#22, click on #21's link.
#21, thank you.
that said, neither article was very good -- we already know lay-offs = TTT and that current associates tend to get scared, demoralized, and tempted to leave (but aren't they already?).
I would have liked to see more analysis of whether lay-offs really do cause a shortage of mid-level associates down the road that will have to be filled with laterals, i.e. some hard numbers that layoffs ultimately don't save much money, as well as a discussion of whether this gap in mid-levels leads to problems in training new associates.
since there's not much to talk about in these half-a$$ articles, Elie, you need to add your own talking points
"layoffs actually cost money....right...and hiring people when there is no work for them makes money...i see it now"
Reading is hard, isn't it 23?
10, don't you mean faux "paw"?
"cascade of sadness"?