Gannett tries furlough as alternative to layoffs

Gannett today announced they would force one week of unpaid leave on most of their US employees for the first quarter. Just a rough estimate would tell you they expect to save 5-7% (less than 1/13th) of their hourly costs in the first quarter after you take in to account the number of people that will get exempted and benefits that will still get paid.

The move raises a number of questions in my mind. The first and foremost is: will they continue the tactic each quarter until they recover? It's a strange method to say the least, but it is an "easy" way to avoid layoffs and spread the misery equally.

The move, by its sheer nature, tells you they can get along with 5-7% less labor. You'll get one less week out of all of the people on vacation, which is about 1/13th of the work product you'd normally expect. They've even made the point that exactly zero work is do be done during the time off. That's better vacation time than most of us get with the constant tether of a Blackberry. The release tells us even the executives are expected to do the same.

So why not just make the cut? Sure they've cut twice in the very recent past, but this tells us they think they can get away with a bit more.

I'm not a fan. It's pretty classic weak management and is another death by a thousand cuts. Hard decisions are just that - hard. Either let people work, or pull the bandaid off.