Layoffs and a Bad Economy

Having worked in IT for a good portion of my life, I know many people that have lost their jobs recently. In the past year, several industries have gone south. Most of them have been sales and manufacturing, and fortunately IT industries have been spared...until the past month or two.

Recently one of my best friends was laid off from an unnamed software development firm. He has basically dedicated his entire post-college life to the company, even when other opportunities came his way. Company loyalty, unfortunately, seems to have done him a disservice. And he is not alone. Many organizations are catching onto Microsoft's slogan from around 2002-2003- "Do More with Less".

What will turn this depression around? That's a matter of great speculation, and fervent debate on Capitol Hill. I'm certainly no economist, but here is my take- Companies should lay off the top-heavy sections of their business, and invest in employees. In other words, where a company has many executives, upper and middle management, and too much lower management, those employees need to be eliminated or repurposed. With the capital saved there, those companies need to invest in lower level employees to do actual work. This is especially true in manufacturing. IT organizations are also starting to slide down this slope, and it needs to be avoided at all costs. Top heavy organizations have less feedback from the bottom up. While most executives and managers would argue the commands come from the top down, if you look at the most successful and innovative organizations there is a feedback loop from top down and from the bottom up. In fact, historically, lower-level employees have been the ones to introduce innovation into most organizations- they are the ones on the floor day in and day out.

So, my advice would be to wait it out for another 6 months. After that, start investing in employees on the ground level. Don't go hog wild, but do a few at a time. Hire employees where they have the most customer impact, too. Customer service, for what it's worth, is completely dead at this point. Consumers expect a garbage experience when they need to contact product support, and an surprised consumer is a happy consumer. Beating my expectation ALWAYS means I will spend my dollars with you.