After the Cuts: What Happens Now

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After the Cuts What Happens Now?
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Leslie R. Stellman, EsquireHODES, PESSIN KATZ,
P.A.901 Dulaney Valley Road, Suite 400Towson,
Maryland 21204

• [phone]
• LStellman_at_hpklegal.com
• www.hpklegal.com

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Layoffs, Furloughs, Reassignments . . . What next?
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What are the Effects of Downsizing?

• Impact on self-esteem of remaining workers.
• Fear and paranoia in the workplace.
• A lack of loyalty, opening the door for sabotage.
• Employees becoming suspicious of one another.
• Employees afraid to make decisions, even routine
  ones, for fear of their consequences.

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What are the Effects of Downsizing?

• Emotional contagion, i.e., sharing feelings of
  gloom and doom with laid off workers.
• Star employees looking for employment elsewhere
  in order to avoid being the next arbitrary cut.
• Citizens becoming disenchanted with government
  agencies and employees because of a perceived
  reduction in services.
• The wrath of remaining employees who are forced
  to do more work for the same (or less) pay.

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Remember the Scene in Cheers when Norm Had to
Lay off his Fellow Workers?
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He ended up crying along with his victims . . .
But this is no joke!
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Other Measures Hiring Freezes, Reductions in
Benefits, Overtime
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Hiring Freezes

• Cause a level of anxiety among existing
  employees. Those employees equate a level of
  turnover with healthy employer operations.
• This anxiety could be increased when outgoing
  employees are not replaced with new employees.

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When Benefits are Reduced

• Depending on the depth of the benefits reduction
  (and especially its impact on more experienced
  workers), employees may file grievances.
• Defending these grievances could quickly swallow
  any savings that your County gained when it
  reduced the benefits.

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Overtime!

• Cuts in overtime work, combined with fewer
  employees to do the work, lead to decreased
  governmental efficiency.
• Lack of overtime also leads to employee
  dissatisfaction when employees depend on overtime
  pay in each paycheck.

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How to Mitigate Employee Reactions in Tough
Economic Times

• Understand that employees will be anxious, angry,
  and otherwise upset at what they view to be
  arbitrary cuts.
• Employees will feel put out about having an
  increased workload without an increase in salary.
• Employees will feel anxious about speaking out,
  which could make them passive-aggressive towards
  supervisory staff.
• That being said THE GOAL IS TO REDUCE
  GRIEVANCES!

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How to Mitigate Employee Reactions in Tough
Economic Times

• When cuts are over, immediately notify remaining
  employees.
• Even if the reprieve is temporary, employees will
  be appreciate knowing that they do not have to
  constantly await the next round of cuts.
• Encourage supervisory staff to be responsive to
  initial (and/or informal) employee grievances
  before the grievances become more costly for the
  County.
• If supervisory staff refuses to be responsive to
  initial and/or informal grievances, hold
  supervisory staff accountable.

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How to Mitigate Employee Reactions in Tough
Economic Times

• Offer voluntary buyouts to employees before
  implementing layoffs
• If employees departure is voluntary, County will
  reduce the risk of that employee filing a
  grievance or lawsuit at a later time.
• Offer flex scheduling (telework, alternate
  Fridays off) for remaining employees
• Creature comforts like working from home and
  having regular days off can help take some of the
  sting out of increased workloads