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The Slashing May Slow

Feb 25, 2009
This article is part of a series called News & Trends.

The last we time we were the bearer of bad news from a Watson Wyatt survey, 23% of companies were planning more layoffs. That percentage is way down: 13% of companies are now expecting to make layoffs.

That’s partly because a lot of companies have already cut. In December, 39% of companies said they’d already done layoffs; now, 52% say so.

Meanwhile, the percentage of the 245 large U.S. companies surveyed last week that say they froze salaries more than tripled from the December survey to this one.

HR program

Already made change

Expecting to make change

Feb

2009

Dec

2008

Oct

2008

Feb

2009

Dec

2008

Oct

2008

Add/increase restrictions to company travel policy

69%

48%

34%

10%

16%

21%

Hiring freeze

56%

47%

30%

10%

18%

25%

Layoffs/reduction in force

52%

39%

19%

13%

23%

26%

Eliminate or reduce the hiring of seasonal workers

44%

28%

17%

9%

16%

18%

Salary freeze

42%

13%

4%

14%

19%

12%

Eliminate or reduce training programs

35%

23%

10%

15%

18%

18%

Organization-wide restructuring

31%

23%

14%

20%

21%

23%

Increase communication to employees about their benefits

31%

32%

35%

27%

35%

35%

Increase communication to employees about their pay

28%

16%

18%

31%

43%

37%

HR function restructuring

23%

14%

15%

22%

21%

19%

Reduce/eliminate other employee programs (tuition reimbursement, subsidized dining facilities, etc.)

23%

12%

8%

18%

12%

11%

Raise percentage that employees pay for health care premiums

22%

20%

21%

24%

17%

25%

Reduced workweek

13%

2%

4%

8%

6%

4%

Reduce employer 401(k)/403(b) match

12%

3%

2%

12%

7%

4%

Salary reductions

7%

5%

2%

4%

6%

4%

Early retirement window

6%

3%

4%

6%

6%

5%

This article is part of a series called News & Trends.