Tech & Biz

Workplace Austerity: Dealing with Shrinking Profits

by Jordan Yerman | November 12, 2008 at 04:53 am

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A mix of sensationalism and actual necessity is fueling a new workplace austerity as companies scramble to make whatever cuts they must without terminating employees in the face of shrinking profits and gloomy market outlook.

What's actually starting to change is not just workplace rules, but workplace culture, which is both more nebulous and further-reaching.

Wall Street bonuses could fall by 41% in 2009 -- a bigger drop than was seen following the attacks of September 11 2001, the New York state Assembly said. In the City of London, the cash bonus pool is forecast to fall by nearly 60% this year , according to the United Kingdom's Centre for Economics and Business Research.

"Canned beer is the new champagne," Oppenheimer & Co banking analyst Meredith Whitney told the Reuters Global Finance Summit this week in New York.

Financial firms worldwide have slashed more than 130 000 jobs in the current crisis, with thousands more losses expected as banks totter and hedge funds haemorrhage assets.