Headcount Reduction

Headcount Reduction

The focus of this paper is mainly on headcount reduction and employs such tactics as early retirement, transfers and out placement, buy-out packages, and layoffs. It is most often done by top-down directives, and almost always implemented across-the-board since the goal is to reduce headcount numbers quickly. The disadvantages of this method are its difficulty to predict who will be eliminated and who will remain, and its impossibility to determine what knowledge and skills will be lost to the organization. The advantages are that it provides immediate reduction, motivates cost savings, and creates readiness in the organization for further ...