More tech companies cutting staff hours
By Jon Swartz
USA Today
SAN FRANCISCO — Your time is increasingly not your own if you work in Silicon Valley.
More companies, struggling to recover from the tech-industry downturn, are demanding employees take time off — on the companies' terms — to cut costs.
In addition to closing the week between Christmas and New Year's, which has long been done by many valley firms, more companies are now closing the week of July 4 and are considering shutdowns around other holidays, such as Labor Day and Thanksgiving.
The strategy saves companies in several ways. Some employees take unpaid time, reducing operating expenses. If workers take paid time off, it gets the liability off the employers' books. And, companies can cut costs without chopping jobs, saving investments in recruiting and training. Shutdowns also cut energy costs. "Company closures, like layoffs, are a cyclical business strategy in the valley," says Paul Saffo of the Institute for the Future. Holidays under fire:
Fourth of July. Silicon Graphics for the first time this year is closing most operations. Its 2,900 employees are to take vacation for three days and are paid July 4 and 5.
Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems, Adobe Systems and Novell said they would also close for the week.
They have done it before. H-P told its 74,000 U.S. employees in a memo that the closure would "help improve efficiency and enhance our ability to execute through the current U.S. market softness." H-P, which recently merged with Compaq Computer, is slashing 15,000 jobs.
Sun has told employees to take vacation time or unpaid leave for the week — the first of its fiscal year and its slowest.
Adobe is asking its 2,100 North American salaried employees to take four days off during the week. Estimated savings: Several million dollars, or less than 0.5 percent of Adobe's operating costs last year.
Other holidays. VeriSign has asked its 3,000 employees to take six vacation days in the next four months to reduce expenses. Workers already have July 4 and 5 as paid holidays. VeriSign also is pondering shutdowns during the Labor Day and Thanksgiving weeks.
