An Unusual Alternative to Layoffs: Vote-Offs
Posted by Molly DiBianca On April 17, 2009 In: Reduction in Force (RIF)
What if your employer announced cut-backs but, instead of announcing who would be subject to layoffs, you were giving the task of making the choice. How easily could you select which of your coworkers you would "vote off of the island"? Talk about peer pressure. Talk about cubicle wars!
Would you vote for the employee who never carries his weight? Or would you invoke the Survivor strategy of voting off the strongest competitors--even though it means you'd run the risk that you'd have to do more or that the business would suffer in the absence of its key performers? 
Thanks to a new reality show, viewers can live this decision process vicariously. In each episode of "Someone's Gotta Go'," workers at a struggling business will choose who should get a salary cut or raise and who should be fired based on information about pay and past performance.
Maybe you'd better smile at the coworker in the neighboring cubicle a little more often these days.
Delaware employers can learn more about other, more humane, alternatives to layoffs at our annual Employment Law Seminar on April 29. (Learn more about the employment-law seminar here and register for the seminar here).
Comments
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