Far too many companies have engaged at one time or another in the practice of downsizing, for all sorts of reasons, some legitimate, and some not so; for reasons such as because a given plant site is perceived to be non-competitive, or to phase out a given product line, or because of economic conditions, or to save money, or to bust an incipient union, or to increase profitability, and so on and so forth. While corporations should have the flexibility to look at any and all avenues that they believe are the most prudent paths to consider taking in the conducting of their business; it would seem to be, that in consideration that nothing is as important as our fellow human beings, that the laying off of employees should be something that should always be close to the very last resort, so of.
In point of fact, National and State governments, should make it their point when it comes to tax policies to specifically punish those companies that lay off a certain percentage or quantity of employees, by therefore removing previous tax set asides, tax abatements, and other favorable legislation, as a form of punishment, for the laying off of employees. After all, if the whole purpose, for given favoritism for a particular company is because that company is perceived to be of overall benefit to the locality; the fact that they are laying off employees, can seldom be reasonably seen as being of community benefit, and most certainly isn’t for those that are no longer employed.
Clearly, the business world is a complicated place, with seldom there being any guarantees of profit, business, or perpetuity. That said, employees with any corporation, are primarily there because they have a need to make a steady income, and when that is disrupted, unexpectedly; without any safety net, or without any subsequent place of employment, readily available, that can easily create a personal world of desperate havoc. That is why, the laying off of employees, is something that really needs to be restricted to the direst of economic conditions; for at least when that is so occurring, there is a more believable storyline that makes reasonable sense for those actions, so taken.
A given employee, wants to believe that when they are diligent in the tasks that they are assigned, and that when they are responsible in their duties that they perform, that the company so employing them will treat them fairly. That is why it is important that more employers are more transparent with their workers, so that workers can better understand, the need for cost reduction, the need for profit, the need for innovation, and so on; as well as the company itself has a fair obligation to prove to their employees that they themselves are making prudent managerial decisions.
All those companies that initiate massive layoffs and are downsized should truly be held accountable for those layoffs and that downsizing. Further to the point, it shouldn’t be the least of the employees, that suffer the most from said downsizing; rather that hurt should start at the very top, with upper and middle management being specifically targeted, for really those that earn the most, and have the highest status, should be the first in line, to lose both, when it comes time to make personnel cuts. Perhaps then, with that structure, there would be less layoffs of the regular workers.