What is your employer doing to cut expenses? We got some news today

[whatevergirl]

I’m grateful to have a good job, praise be to God. I work for a strong global company, and I guess I never thought the economy would ‘touch,’ us but …it did.

Today, we were told that if we have a pension (thankfully I got hired when they were still providing these) are going to be frozen (“forever”), and the 401k matches are stopping for the year, they’ll revisit them next year. I actually stopped contributing last summer, and now it doesn’t seem like it would have mattered if I stayed in it.

I am grateful, I have been a loyal and productive employee, so hopefully, I won’t have to be concerned with any future layoffs…but, it can make one a little anxious when you hear news like that from the top. I think they are doing their best to keep from laying people off, so that’s a good thing. We went through a small wave of letting some go though last year before the holidays.

So…if you are still employed (that’s a plus!), what has YOUR employer done to cut costs, so as to keep from laying off?

 

[KCT]

Our school needs a balanced budget and enrollment is down. Administration and some faculty will be let go. Our director said he would know by March 31st.

 

[whatevergirl]

So, you work in the school? I will keep you and your coworkers in my prayers…please keep dh and me in yours, too. We are told by Christ to not worry or be anxious for anything. DH and I are so grateful…it astounds me how many here and overseas have lost jobs.

We have a financial analyst from england who joins our calls, and he said England is a mess, financially. He also said Dubai is suffering, and they were booming for so long. We have office in all of these places…so, no doubt, our business will be affected. I guess I didn’t think it would come to freezing existing pensions. I knew we stopped offering them to new employees but…

 

[maryjk]

I am a stay at home mom.

But, my husband’s work had lay offs. He is still employed, but everyone that stayed took a 10% pay cut. ouch.

 

[whatevergirl]

Oh my a pay CUT? Ouch is right. I think the mantra we will be hearing for a while is…‘well, it’s better than being jobless.’ I guess it stands to reason, if the company isn’t being profitable, not sure what your husband does, then they have to cut somewhere, you know? I’m glad our benefits stayed in tact.

The weird thing is that Disney is working their managers around the clock in reservations…dh and I laugh. It’s like, did they not receive the memo? We’re in a recession, Mickey.

Prayers to you guys, too.

 

[Paul1961]

We stopped 401K matching.

By early February, we had already done our usual winter layoffs and then some. Then we reduced the everyone to 32 hours. The top management(Pres, and two V.P.s and Controller(me) continue to work 40+ hours but with 20% less pay.

All spending is limited to critical items only.

As our spring approaches, business will pickup. We are preparing for sales to be down 25% or so. We hope and pray that we will survive.

My wife works at two different jobs. The non-profit were she works three days per week is closing in two weeks. The grants they received from large corporations and foundations have dried up.

We are fortunate enough to have savings to dip into.

 

[whatevergirl]

It’s good to have some savings…we are hoping to ride things out and not have to touch the savings.

Good luck to and your wife, Paul-at least, your job seems safe, right? That’s good.

 

[HouseArrest]

I am a stay at home mom.

But, my husband’s work had lay offs. He is still employed, but everyone that stayed took a 10% pay cut. ouch.

The same thing happened to us. The pay is supposed to be restored in May. We’ll see.

I have one very, very, small job - I teach computer classes - about 9 a year - each is for 8 hours. For the past 3 years or so most of them have been cancelled because there were not enough people signing up for them, but this semester 2 of the 3 actually ran. I am assuming it’s because of job loss. So I actually enjoyed more opportunity because of the financial crisis, even though I only work a few hours a year.

 

[ChristinaM]

A lot of positions got cut at my husband’s workplace. Several of his friends got laid off. Fortunately he kept his job, but he is now being moved into a new area, which he doesn’t like because he just spent a year training for the job that he’s in now. I keep telling him he’s lucky to have a job at all. I think they are no longer matching 401k funds or giving certain types of production bonuses.

I think the worst part may be the constant worry that he will be laid off eventually. His performance reviews have been good, but no job is 100% safe in these times. We just don’t know when - or if - the axe will drop. Now everything that happens at work has him jumpy. It’s a pretty stressful situation for both of us.

 

[FickleFreckled]

I work for one of the best-known non-profit organizations in the country. They’ve had a generous employee benefits package but donations and sponsorships are way down. They announced that they will stop matching 401K contributions and have lowered mileage reimbursement in order to keep from cutting personnel. I was out of a job for a year and single; went through my savings. I’m just happy to be working again. I sure won’t complain about the mileage or the 401K and by golly, I’ll even buy my own paper clips!

 

[whatevergirl]

Ok, the 401k and pension cuts seem normal, then, across the board. I personally think that’s better than having to continue to layoff.

How is the government keeping up with all the unemployment checks? Anyone else wondering that? I mean, unemployment is at what…8 or 9 %??

 

[KCT]

So, you work in the school? I will keep you and your coworkers in my prayers…please keep dh and me in yours, too. We are told by Christ to not worry or be anxious for anything. DH and I are so grateful…it astounds me how many here and overseas have lost jobs. quote]

I’m a teacher and I’ve been at the school a year. Several teachers were hired over the summer, so I only have seniority over a few .

I’m not worried. I would miss the school if I were let go . . . it’s very faithfully Catholic and the atmosphere is wonderful. But, if God has somewhere else in mind, I’m OK with that, too.

 

[Sina]

I’m still on maternity leave so no clue what they are doing at my work, but my husband is an engineer and they are reducing bonuses, and forcing vacation times.

They also have cut fridays to half days, but added on half an hour to each day.

Three of my friends have been laid off recently. Two are accountants. One at a Casino, one at an oil and gas drilling company, and another in investment banking.

 

[Katie1723]

I thought I was safe too. The one day it turned out I wasn’t. Unemployment is not pretty.
Kathy

 

[ChristinaM]

Ok, the 401k and pension cuts seem normal, then, across the board. I personally think that’s better than having to continue to layoff.

How is the government keeping up with all the unemployment checks? Anyone else wondering that? I mean, unemployment is at what…8 or 9 %??

Silly whatevergirl, don’t you know our government just pulls money out of the ether? Miraculous…the US government circumvents the laws of thermodynamics by creating money out of absolutely nothing!

On a more serious note, unemployment payments are really putting a strain on state budgets. I think here in Indiana the unemployment fund is close to running out of money.

 

[kage_ar]

I thought I was safe too. The one day it turned out I wasn’t. Unemployment is not pretty.
Kathy

Same here, nothing but stellar reviews for years, consistantly contacted by recruiters, well respected and even in two HR “protected classes”. The axe fell for me a year ago. There is NOTHING out here.

My advice to everyone who has a job now, cut back, cut back on everything and save every penny you can. Act now like you have lost your job. No one is safe, and savings goes very fast.

 

[dulcissima]

We are not allowing most travel. We are not filling vacant positions. Most purchases now require several signatures. We won’t be expanding our enrollment. Students fees will go up modestly. That’s about it for now. We have already been operating under very conservative fiscal constraints since we opened 7 years ago and have been trying to build up a safety reserve for lean times. It turns out that had been a good call. I really appreciate our VP of Finance. She has a ton of common sense.

 

[whatevergirl]

Silly whatevergirl, don’t you know our government just pulls money out of the ether? Miraculous…the US government circumvents the laws of thermodynamics by creating money out of absolutely nothing!



On a more serious note, unemployment payments are really putting a strain on state budgets. I think here in Indiana the unemployment fund is close to running out of money.

It’s downright scary. And people wonder why I don’t watch the news.

 

[whatevergirl]

We are not allowing most travel. We are not filling vacant positions. Most purchases now require several signatures. We won’t be expanding our enrollment. Students fees will go up modestly. That’s about it for now. We have already been operating under very conservative fiscal constraints since we opened 7 years ago and have been trying to build up a safety reserve for lean times. It turns out that had been a good call. I really appreciate our VP of Finance. She has a ton of common sense.

In my dept, we are hiring…as funny as that sounds. But, I’m in sales/marketing, and we just let two people go, not a layoff, but fired. One, was an integrity issue, the other, performance. In sales, if you can handle keeping up with the quotas, your job ‘should’ be secure…But, who knows.

 

[Sierrah]

Well my second job has closed one office and starting this week has frozen wages. Could be worse I guess. Could have had to take a pay cut…but if they do that I’ll just get something else. I only reason I’ve kept the job so long is that they paid better then a lot of part time jobs do and the work was pretty easy. I would put it past them to cut wages eventually though and maybe try to push some of the older more expensive employees out and keep hiring the temps and new people at a cheaper hourly rate. Why companies do this I can’t figure out. It would make more sense to me to want to keep the older experience employee who know the drill and don’t have to be trained on every new project. They constantly hire new people who stay a week or month at most so there’s constantly someone on staff to train, hire and monitor these new people . Of course I’m no business expert but I can’t understand why it wouldn’t save them more money and be worth their time to keep the veteran workers but who knows.