December 11th, 2008 · No Comments

By Tim Sanders
Saving the World at Work

How many layoffs has Southwest Airlines had?  Zero.

How many for SAS Institute.  Same number.

Why?  Both founders/CEOs are willing to do ANYTHING to avoid them.  They don’t see layoffs as a natural response to economic downturns, usually taken to please value investors on Wall Street.  Southwest was a market rebel and SAS Institute stayed private.

In my view, socially responsible companies don’t have layoffs when they are still viable or making money. It is not an expense reduction strategy with an upside.  I’m not alone in this view.  Last week, Barry Diller went on record saying that layoffs are a horrible thing to do to people and society when your company is not at risk of bankruptcy.  For once, I totally agree with him.

Check out this video interview:  Mass layoffs by profitable firms a horrible act.

Read more from Tim at SandersSays and at the Saving the World at Work site.