Since last around a year, the American economy had been weakening due to souring food and oil prices and substantiated by the burst of the housing bubble. The slowdown of American economy had pushed this Super Power in a state of deep recession. This recession in US had badly shaken not only India but has squeezed the entire industrialized world. This had led to a fall in demand for majority of goods and services, increase of inflation, rise of input costs and deep crunch of cash flow. The impact of US slowdown had been tremendous on the IT sector, whereas the energy & manufacturing sectors also are facing its dreadful effects. Mid sized IT companies got its maximum impact due to slowing demand for computer hardware, software & other electronic ware, while the bigger players also got some hitting. To ease out the great financial pressure, almost all industrial players have started viewing their costs with a microscope and future with a telescope and have started adopting the easiest way of downsizing their manpower giving birth to another demon i.e. the unemployment. Of course the organizations are not obliged to seek the opinion of their employees, as to what measures must be adopted to sustain their business operations especially under such tough times. The workforce or the employees are the worst hit section being on the receiving end, left with no or very little choice in this scenario. Let us deliberate on the perspective of the employers as well as that of the employees to navigate the present rough waters. Employers Perspective: Let us put ourselves in the shoes of an employer coming across two options of taking short term measures & reap the quick results or going a step further & considering long term measures. A) Short Term Measures available with the Employers: Majorities of the organizations take either of the following decision unilaterally: 1) Firing the Employees 2) Employee’s Pay Cutting Let us apply a little thought to various Pros and Cons of both these options exercised by the employers. 1) Firing the Employees: This is the worst guillotine like but the easiest resort handy with the employer anxious to cut down the costs. # Although it provides some economic relief to the employer by which he can tide over the immediate crisis. However long term ill effects of such a strategy can’t be ignored. It is always better for an employer to weigh the pros & cons of both the options in the broader perspective & decide suitable action plan favorable to the organization in the longer run. # Even if you happen to decide to fire a fraction of the workforce, do not touch the 15 - 20% of your core employees, who happen to be instrumental in generating majority of revenue for the company in any form. Such core persons may be from Servicing, Marketing, Development, Quality Assurance, Supply Chain or any other key domain of the organization. Try to keep such key persons satisfied, since these high performers can be lured away by any company, even when markets are in bad condition. However care need be taken that you don’t over invest in such people. # Even if you decide to fire some of the people from the organization, give sufficient notice to the employee that from such and such / reasonable date, may be a month later or so, your services may not be viable for the organization. This would certainly provide some breathing room to the employee to settle down from the sudden shock otherwise. It is for certain that organization is not going to ruin due to a loss of small amount of salary paid to the employee during this notice period. The act of firing of the employees at the blink of an eye, is extremely inhuman & far from the social ethics & needs to be avoided. Complete article is available at: