Customer Reviews

The Headcount Solution : How to Cut Compensation Costs and Keep Your Best People

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Employers of all sizes and types are struggling in today's tight economy. For the past few years, payrolls have been substantially reduced as companies sought every way possible to operate lean. The economic downturn has inspired leaders to restructure their organizations, saying good-bye to long-term employees who no longer fit while, at the same time, bringing in fresh workers with the skills needed for the new corporate design.

The challenge through all this turmoil is to retain your top talent and control costs. That combination is difficult to achieve, since highly proficient employees also expect to be highly compensated. This dilemma has been front-burner for the past few years. Will it continue to be an issue as we move through the decade in a growing economy? My perspective is yes: companies will continue restructuring and the entire employment environment will be very fluid. The balancing act of keeping people and managing compensation will be a vital skill for successful business leaders.

The book begins with a recognition that layoffs, easy as they may be as a simple solution, may not always be the best answer. Chapter 1 opens with Key Principles, a good positioning that continues as a pattern through the book. Downsizing is explained in short sections in a style that reminds me of USA Today-short, pithy statements. The practicality of the book jumps out with numbered how-to steps to follow. You won't find a lot of depth here, but rather pragmatic thought stimulators. This book will be most valuable for people with experience and/or knowledge in human resource management practices.

The second chapter reports on what companies are doing to cut costs and keep people. The chapter reports on the responses of 1,245 companies to a 2001 survey. Results are reported, followed by the sort of summary that appears at the end of each chapter. The first section concludes with a chapter on how leadership can maintain morale during the kind of crisis that inspires downsizing.

Part Two moves from dilemma to solution, providing seven steps to cut compensation costs. Readers will find an easy-to-read format (plenty of space between lines-airy). A wealth of ideas is shared in these pages as you move from preparation to planning to implementation, to getting back to business.

Then comes the frosting on the cake: five appendices, a glossary, and a good index. Two sample employment termination agreements are offered, one for individual workers 40 and older and another for more than one worker over 40. We're into the legal cover-your-anatomy stuff here. The other three appendices are quite unusual. They're sample speeches for corporate leaders to use in announcing rounds 1, 2, and 3 of cost cutting. I wondered about this feature, thinking that this must be Cost Cutting for Real Dummies.
There is some value in the sample speeches as readers will gain some insight into the issues that need to be covered. However, leaders should be encouraged to use their own phraseology and creativity so their own personality comes through to their people.

As lead author of "Impending Crisis: Too Many Jobs, Too Few People," I believe that we will soon move into an era of increasing headcounts, we're not quite there yet. So this book has instant value today, and will have philosophical and procedural value into the future.

The book provides some great ideas that are important to anyone trying to get the most out of their payroll dollars. As CFO of a public company that has gone through a world of change over the past few years, the advice and insight provided in the Headcount Solution are right on the mark. I wish I read it earlier! I know the book will provide a great foundation as we go forward. I highly recommend it.

Dr. Crandall provides a straight forward, practical approach for executives and HR professionals to use to keep their company's most important competitive advantage, their best people. This practical, seven step process provides a proven method for companies to use, during any phase of the business cycle. But it is especially timely now during an economic period when retaining your best performers is the best way to ensure your company's future success.

This book is a tremendous aid to corporate managers needing to deal with the immediate crises of the downturn in the economy, but still operate in a manner that does not eviscerate their core business. The book offers practical and effective alternatives to the short-term, but costly practice of simply "lopping off heads." Managers would be well advised to utilize the analysis presented by Dr. Crandall & Dr. Wallace in determining how they can survive their immediate crises, while keeping their valuable human resources in tact for the recovery that will come in the future. Executives should have this book at their fingertips and consult it before engaging in any workforce reductions. As a labor & employment law attorney with thirty years experience, I found this book to be an invaluable resource and have highly recommended it to clients.
Paul J. Cherner, Esq.

Great read.
Very useful guide for any manager facing the challenge of cutting costs, and firing people while improving morale and productivity.

The book's objective: "how do you cut costs while at the same time keep your best people".

What the book tells you: steps to be taken when the company is in distress. There are seven steps and layoff is in step six. According to the book, it is as important to retain good people as to layoff the excess ones. The management has to identify who the good people are and how to retain them.

What the book does not tell you: how to handle the head count issue in an otherwise normal company. As the company grows managers tend to add more head counts to cope with the increased workload. I bought the book expected to see such issue addressed. Including this issue would have made the book much more meaningful for every company wanting to keep compensation costs under control.

This is a book that I wish I didn't have to recommend. However, for now we need down-to-earth advice on how to manage down-sizing and Drs Crandall and Wallace are tough, experienced experts in the field.

For anyone who has never before been told to drastically cut department costs in short order, I should think the book would be an absolute life-saver. In addition to sensible advice on how to handle the situation with the minimum of damage to the company and individuals, the book contains worksheets on how to figure costs, a selection of model speeches and letters, and a step-by-step process for deciding on the outcome for each employee.

As the authors say, "Layoffs alone don't work. Companies that lay off employees to get costs in line with revenues rarely improve their return on investments or revenues. And they never regain the stock price they had before the layoffs."

The aim of The Headcount Solution is find ways of reducing costs *without* firing employees, and to ensure that layoffs that can't be avoided don't leave the company unable to benefit when the market does return.