HBR's 10 Must Reads for the Recession Collection (6 Books)

In a Downturn, Include Your Employees in Cost-Cutting Decisions

by Patrick Daoust and Paul Simon

ALMOST EVERY BUSINESS IS REORGANIZING its operations in response to the economic slowdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Often, companies take a top-down approach to resizing based on a limited set of data such as earnings forecasts and competitive benchmarking. But following this playbook usually results in “wrong sizing” and demoralized employees.

Instead, leaders should redesign their operations based on data provided by their most valuable sources of proprietary insights—their employees. Democratizing the collection of data and recommendations allows leadership teams to gain a much clearer picture of activities and initiatives underway within ...