Think Twice Before Cutting Jobs in a Bad Economy

Worried you're going to have to let go of that new salesman or customer service representative you just hired a year ago? Think again, says Smart Money: "Conduct layoffs now, and you'll spend even more to train a whole new batch once the economy picks back up."

Instead, the smsmallbiz.com article suggests ways to cut back on payroll, either by reassigning tasks to an employee whose workload has dried up, reducing hours and wages and even asking for volunteers for a temporary (unpaid) leave of absence.

Are these the best solutions to the problem? Not by a long shot— but they sure beat having to let go a loyal, trained employee.