Chrysler Gives Employees Two Week 'Mandatory' Vacation

Chrysler LLC is telling employees worldwide to take a mandatory two-week vacation in July.
Chrysler informed employees of the plan in an e-mail sent to employees that was obtained by The Associated Press. Chrysler spokeswoman Mary Beth Heilprin confirms the e-mail was sent.
Chrysler plans a corporate-wide shutdown the weeks of July 7 and July 14. Heilprin says some employees may be asked to stay on to work on special projects.
It's common for automakers to shut down plants in July, but this also would affect salaried workers.

Chrysler LLC plans to shut down the company for two weeks this summer as a cost saving move to "accelerate Chrysler's recovery and transformation," Chief Executive Robert Nardelli told employees in a memo distributed Thursday. Here is a copy of the memo:

Dear Employee,

A willingness to try something new has proven to be an important catalyst as we transform into The New Chrysler and, in many corners of this company, new ways of doing business are firmly taking root. That's not just because of new leadership; it's also a product of an "Own It" mindset. As a private company, we all need to think like owners and do our part to accelerate Chrysler's recovery and transformation.
One idea that we have taken a fresh look at is the implementation of a two-week mandatory vacation shutdown. This year, in order to create better alignment and efficiency across organizational lines and boost productivity, Chrysler will use a corporate-wide vacation shutdown for the weeks of July 7 and July 14. While some operations will need to work during the shutdown to support business-critical activities and others may need to maintain minimal support staffs in place, most organizations should use this two-week time period to schedule employee vacations.