Cut the Slack
Your accountant, lawyer and publicist may all be wonderful
people-but you still should question their abilities.
"It's about not being afraid, as the client, in asking for
value," says Brian Okun (above), a partner at Computer
Professionals USA Inc. in New York City.
For example, when Okun reviewed his accounting, he received
proposals to look over the company's $10 million in sales from
two other agencies and saw how much more service he could get.
Using that information, he got a better deal from his existing
firm.
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When Okun put his PR agency under the microscope, he realized it
was doing more generalized planning than his company needed. Okun
fired the firm. "In today's trying economic times,"
he says, "you need to re-evaluate all your business
relationships and ensure that there's value in them."
Bye for Now
Cisco made a splash last summer when it announced a new type of
layoff. If departing employees went on to work at nonprofit
organizations, Cisco would pay one-third of their regular salaries
for one year and allow them to retain and continue to vest their
stock options. In addition, they would be considered for open
positions within Cisco on the same footing as employees still with
the company.
Even if you can't afford that kind of generosity, you still
should keep relations with top laid-off workers good enough that
they'll come back when prosperity returns. First off, don't
give them the bum's rush, says Anne Pasley-Stuart, a human
resources consultant in Boise, Idaho. "Let them use office
space for a job search." Patricia Berg of Minneapolis
consulting firm Personnel Decisions International recommends taking
it a step further by offering letters of recommendation and
encouraging networking with the remaining staff.
Another low-cost goodwill gesture, says Bill Coleman, senior
vice president of compensation at online compensation information
service Salary.com, is to offer equity in your firm when you
can't offer any other form of severance. It might not be worth
anything now, but the employee will appreciate the thought and
benefit should your company bounce back.
And once they're gone, don't lose touch-whether by phone
call or taking them to lunch. "Treat them like people,"
says Coleman. "Call them up and ask how the job search is
going."
Business writer Chris Sandlund works out of
Cold Spring, New York.
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