What Is Downsizing?
Downsizing is the permanent reduction of a company's labor force through the elimination of unproductive workers or divisions. Downsizing is a common organizational practice, usually associated with economic downturns and failing businesses. Cutting jobs is the fastest way to cut costs, and downsizing an entire store, branch or division also frees assets for sale during corporate reorganizations.
Key Takeaways
- Downsizing is the permanent reduction of a company's labor force by removing unproductive workers or divisions.
- While it is generally implemented during times of stress and a decline in revenues, downsizing can also be used to create leaner and more efficient businesses.
- Downsizing is not always positive and can have an adverse long-term impact on a company's bottom line.
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Understanding Downsizing
Downsizing is not always involuntary. It is also used at other stages of the business cycle to create leaner, more efficient businesses. Eliminating any part of an organizational structure that is not directly adding any value to the final product is a production and management philosophy known as lean enterprise.
According to the production principles of lean enterprise, any component of a business enterprise that fails to directly benefit a final product is superfluous. What is valuable (and conversely, what is not valuable) is determined by the customer based on the amount they are willing to pay for a good or service.
Downsizing can also be carried out to align the firm's skill and talent with the broader market. For example, a company may pursue downsizing to weed out employees with obsolete skills that may not be useful in its future direction.
78,737
The number of mass layoffs announced in the first five months of 2024, according to the WARN Act Database.
Consequences of Downsizing
However, there is evidence that downsizing can have adverse long-term consequences that some companies never recover from. Downsizing may actually increase the likelihood of bankruptcy by reducing productivity, customer satisfaction, and morale. Firms that have downsized are much more likely to declare bankruptcy in the future, irrespective of their financial health.
Losing employees with valuable institutional knowledge can reduce innovation. Remaining employees may struggle to manage increased workloads and stress, leaving little time to learn new skills—which can negate any theoretical gain in productivity. Losing trust in management inevitably results in less engagement and loyalty.
Because severe long-term consequences can outweigh any short-term gains, many companies are wary of downsizing, and often take a gentler approach, by cutting work hours, instituting unpaid vacation days, or offering employees incentives to take early retirement. Some companies also offer employees the chance to retrain themselves by subsidizing part of their tuition costs. In some cases, they also rehire laid-off workers after revenues stabilize.
Example of Downsizing
In the wake of the 2020 economic crisis and lockdown, many companies downsized their workforces due to the economic impact of government-ordered business shutdowns that were intended to slow the spread of the virus.
The airline and hospitality industries were particularly impacted, as people were confined to their homes and discretionary travel was all but halted for several months. After announcing in April 2020 that it would eliminate 10% of its worldwide workforce of 160,000—reportedly through voluntary layoffs, natural turnover, and involuntary layoffs—Boeing eliminated more than 12,000 U.S. jobs, including 6,770 involuntary layoffs, in May 2020. Boeing also announced that it had plans to lay off several thousand more employees, although it did not disclose when this would occur.
Boeing is one of the largest American plane makers, but it has been forced to restructure in the face of the 2020 economic crisis. After the crisis, Boeing's troubles with the repeated failures in some of its 737 MAX jets. In 2024, falling orders for the plane caused one of Boeing's suppliers to downsize about 400 workers.
Why Do Corporations Downsize?
Corporations may downsize in order to eliminate unproductive business units, or to reduce cash outflow and improve profits. Companies may also downsize their workforce if they anticipate a near-term economic downturn. Paradoxically, these predictions can become self-fulfilling, since large layoffs tend to reduce consumer spending.
What Are the Disadvantages of Downsizing?
Some companies may try to downsize as a way to reduce expenses, especially if they are facing a cash crunch. However, they run the risk of losing employee loyalty and valuable institutional knowledge. Moreover, some parts of a company that do not generate revenue may be necessary for the company's future outlook. For example, a company's research or information technology departments might not produce direct sales, but downsizing these components could damage the company's long-term outlook.
What Should You Do If Your Company Is Downsizing?
If you find out that your company is planning to downsize its workforce, you may be tempted to start looking for other jobs before the ax falls. But don't give notice just yet: Quitting your job could disqualify you for unemployment insurance, as well as any severance payments. Waiting for the layoff would put you in the best position to negotiate the best severance payment, while giving you time to brush up your resume.
How Do You Know If Your Company Is Planning Layoffs?
The WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification) Act requires U.S. employers to provide 60 days advance warning before making layoffs that affect more than 50 workers at a single job site. There are some exceptions, such as natural disasters and other unforeseeable circ*mstances. You can find these notices at the WARN Database.
The Bottom Line
Downsizing is a corporate euphemism for a permanent reduction in a company's workforce or operations, usually as a measure to control expenses. Corporations may downsize to eliminate unproductive parts of the company, due to changing market conditions, or as a result of a change in their business strategy.
