Trimming your budget without losing people can be tough, but it can be done. Your resources need to be examined from all dimensions, not just the payout of cash. Can company cars be eliminated or can you revisit your health insurance package and offer the same plan with a higher deductible for less premiums? If your company pays for daycare, don't cut it out, revisit it and offer working Moms and Dads remote access solutions like GoToMyPC where they can work from home and still watch the kids.
Instead of that big company picnic this year, begin an employee recognition program and make it available to everyone. A bell boy at a hotel should have the same chance of winning each month as the housekeeping manager. Before you say, "no one wants that," make the recognition program interesting and offer unique ideas like additional company investments to their retirement program. Something they may not see grow now, but in the future.
Even small business can save dollars if done the right way. One independent body shop in New Mexico that employs only twenty people and is seeing tough times, is offering job sharing where painters and technicians work three ten hour days and their sharing partners work the other half of the week. "I didn't lose my job," said one technician, "or my benefits." And the employer saves on the extra social security and Medicare taxes. The job sharing program in this company allowed for employees to cut on after school expenses as well the owner indicated.
Further, most state governments have some sort of pay-to-train program where they will pay all or part of an employee's salary in turn for training them in a technical field. If your business is short on good personnel resources, why not train from the bottom up? While the immediate future may not bring much economic stimulus your company's way right now, rethink what you are doing from top to bottom. Talk honestly with your personnel and find out if cutting out paid personal days or saving vacation pay for another time is workable for them. Use your best resource, your personnel for ideas on how to trim the budget but keep the workers.
John Mack said both Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are being responsible at top levels and the executives understand that the bonuses are gone for a while but company stock is often a choice. While your business may not compete with these top dogs, you can still find ways to trim your waistline, especially if you use your personnel to help you come up with innovative ideas.
