Dell offers staff unpaid leave to cut costs
Published: 05 Nov 2008 08:14 GMT
Dell employees have recently received a memo from founder and chief executive Michael Dell asking them to take some time off without pay.
The measure is not intended to be punitive, but rather to help the company save some money as the economy continues on an uncertain path. The request is also an effort to avoid possible layoffs, according to a report in the Austin Business Journal.
A Dell spokesman confirmed the memo's existence and said that it was part of a wider cost-saving programme. Besides offering one to five days of unpaid leave, the company has also placed a temporary freeze on new hires, eliminated contract employees and offered severance packages to workers to leave voluntarily.
Although Dell recently met its goal of cutting its employee numbers by 10 percent, the memo stated that more layoffs could be coming if these cost-cutting measures didn't achieve the desired results, which Dell did not specify.
The company recently reported a 17 percent dip in earnings after a year of showing signs of good growth.
Credit: To cut costs, Dell asks workers to take unpaid leave from CNET News












