Staving Layoffs - Controlling Pay

(Originally posted Jan 25th)

Companies are, perhaps predictably, managing personnel costs now by controlling pay.  In most cases, salaries have been frozen, bonuses are being cut or eliminated.  In some extreme cases,  salaries are actually being reduced. 

And given the job climate, the employees can only say, "Thank you, may I have another?"

Yahoo has, starting this week, frozen pay raises.  Bonuses have also been cut (but per my sources, hopefully not completely eliminated in all cases).

  AMD has had layoffs (1,100 people), and the remaining employees are enduring pay cuts ranging from 5% - 20%

And Circuit City's 30K+ employees are all going to lose their jobs, as the chain shuts down.  (Note - I went to one of their stores, and didn't really find things selling for a huge discount.  This isn't like Sharper Image's going-out-of-business sale)

Having fired over a thousand people, Saks is also freezing wages, and removing 401K contributions for the year

Caterpillar, which I would say is the most successful autos-related company in today's climate, is cutting pay - up to 15% for regular employees, and up to 50% for executives

YRC has cut pay by 15% for employees that are non-union, and by 10% for its drivers

Hutchinson is reducing pay by 5% for its remaining employees

Linked To Layoffs - LinkedIn Trimming Staff

Bay Area's very own LinkedIn surprised everyone by being the first startup to announce layoffs..... ok, maybe this is not a joking matter.

Anyway, LinkedIn is also laying off staff.  I am a bit fan of the service - I prefer it greatly over FaceBook, Friendster, MySpace, Hi5.  I hope this means the company is growing up, trying to get its act together, because the rumors out of their campus are not favorable.  And they did raise a lot of money recently, so the layoffs are a pre-emptive move, hopefully (I really don't want LinkedIn to disappear!)

By the way, surprise surprise - LinkedIn has Sequoia as one of its funders.

Seesmic Shift - Layoffs at Video Conversation Company

Loic Le Meur's Seesmic has asked about 10 of their roughly 25 - 30 employees to leave (most last week, and 2-3 about three weeks ago).

Seesmic is all about video conversations - upload your videos, join in the conversation.  Great.  I wonder what the Seesmic team is talking about now.

Just as with most of the other companies going through layoffs this early, Seesmic has a bit of money in the bank (including a recent $6 Million round of funding, and another $6 Million last year), and is tightening its belt for the upcoming economic winter.

Legally Laid Off - HellerEhrman Shutting Down?

About a week earlier, Silicon Valley-based law firm HellerEhrman had started shutting down, laying off everyone.   Given that HellerEhrman had grown to quite a position of strength over the 2001 - 2007 period, this is a bit hard. 

Their website now seems to reflect that they've completely exited.  The screenshot below is all you will see if you go to http://www.hellerehrman.com/en/.  

The Placement Opportunities link takes you to a page with a list of firms hiring, as well as placement firms.

Poignantly funny - check out the Disclaimer they have on the Placement Opportunities page.  Yes, this used to be a law firm.

 

Signs of a Downturn - Yahoo cutting 3.5K Jobs

Per a Valleywag tipster, Yahoo is about to cut 3.5K jobs in early December.  The job cuts have long been rumored, but the number sounds higher than earlier guesses. 

What seems a bad move - the layoffs are going to be announced within a week of an over-the-top holiday party.  And, of course, there are rumors that the severance packages will be pathetic.

Not I'm normally ok with holiday parties - layoffs are exactly when you need to put something else up to boost up the morale of remaining employees.  LifeScan, a Johnson & Johnson company, did this while I was there, after their first layoff in almost a decade.  But the timing isn't good.   And, of course, if severance packages are bad, this reflects poorly indeed on the judgement of the executive team.

Most of the layoffs are rumored to be in Finance and Sales/ GA.

Yahooooooooo

Silicon Valley Layoffs - SkyRider Riding off?

Mountain View P2P company SkyRider, yet another Sequoia portfolio company, seems to be shutting down.  Its all still a rumor!