Section Onedownturns than needed for production. Even after some excess
labor is used in alternative assignments such as maintenance of
equipment and training, approximately 4 per-cent is hoarded.^78
There are a number of alternatives having the potential to
reduce the number of layoffs in the short term, although layoffs
are better avoided through the use of long-term alternatives.
Some of these alternatives deal with shutting off the inflow of
personnel into the organization. When the inflow is shut down,
attrition can then help draw down excess employees.
Unfortunately, during general downturns, attrition usually does
not have the desired impact. For attrition to have an effect,
there must be high turnover. When a downturn is sudden and
severe and turnover is low, attrition may not work quickly
enough to save labor costs.^79 Another set of these actions
involves some form of redeployment of current employees or
curtailment of subcontracts and reassignment of work from
contractors to the company’s own employees. A different set of
actions involves sharing the economic loss through work
sharing or incentives for early retirement. (The latter course of
action can be quite expensive and is not always
acknowledged.) Unsurprisingly, the survey of manufacturing
companies noted earlier indicated that nonunion firms place
greater importance on reductions in hours as an alternative to
layoffs (69 percent and 37 percent, respectively).^80