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"Slice and dice" took on new meaning at appliance maker Sunbeam Corp. last week, when Chief Executive Albert J. Dunlap once again earned his sobriquet "Chainsaw Al." Citing a "bad stumble" in company performance, he stunned employees with plans to shutter eight of 24 plants and eliminate 6,400 jobs, 40% of the work force.
Despite all the rosy economic signs, mass layoffs continue. Challenger, Gray & Christmas, an outplacement firm that has tracked dismissal announcements through the 1990s, says large-scale firings are almost up to what they were at the depths of the recession. Over the last half a year, the monthly average has been 48,900, compared with 51,000 per month in 1993, said John A. Challenger, executive vice president of the Chicago-based firm.
Mergers account for much of the pink-slip activity, but even healthy companies in cutthroat markets are using occasional layoffs as a quick way to bring costs into line. Thanks to years of practice--and changing attitudes on the part of workers, who frankly don't expect much compassion from employers anymore--a few companies have turned firing into an art form.
Employees also recognize that they are more responsible for their careers in the new social order--and that job opportunities are more plentiful now than during the downturn.
