XEROX CUTS SEVERANCE PLAN AHEAD OF LAYOFFS

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Date: Monday February 8, 2010 10:46:31 am
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    http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20100130/BUSINESS/1300340/1001/business
    XEROX CUTS SEVERANCE PLAN AHEAD OF
    LAYOFFS

    As it gears up to eliminate
    2,500 positions worldwide this year in a cost-cutting move, Xerox Corp.
    also is reducing what it pays U.S. workers in severance.Xerox, the
    fifth-largest employer in the Rochester area with about 7,000 local
    workers, declined to say how much money it hopes to save from the cut to
    severance benefits.But in an internal memo sent out Friday to
    employees, James A. Firestone, the president of corporate operations,
    said the severance policy change, like the 2010 job eliminations, are
    due to business woes.”We are identifying various cost reduction actions
    to help us re-size our company in the face of significant revenue
    decline and to be better positioned to invest going forward,” Firestone
    said in the memo.The document and imaging company currently provides 1.5
    weeks of compensation to workers who are laid off or accept buyouts for
    each year they have been with the company.Under the new severance
    policy, which goes into effect Monday, employees will receive one week
    of compensation for each year.Employees who have been with Xerox for 10
    or more years would receive some additional compensation: three weeks of
    extra pay for workers who have been with the company 10 to 19 years;
    six weeks’ worth for 20 to 29 years of service; and nine weeks for 30 or
    more years.The changes mean a sizable hit in what many employees
    receive. A five-year employee of Xerox would get five weeks of severance
    pay instead of 7.5 weeks, a 15-year employee would receive 18 weeks of
    paychecks instead of 22.5; and a 25-year employee would receive 31 weeks
    of compensation instead of 37.5.

    One aspect of severance remains
    the same: a cap of 52 weeks’ worth of pay for dismissed workers.The new
    severance terms bring Xerox more in line with the business world
    overall, as one week for each year is relatively common, said Jerry
    Newman, a professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo’s
    School of Management and co-author of the book Compensation.And Xerox is
    among a broad number of companies that have cut employee benefits
    during the recession, Newman said.”Every component (companies) can
    possibly cut during this Great Recession, they’re cutting,” he said.
    “Benefits are being cut left and right.”

    Xerox last year froze
    employee salaries and suspended 401(k) retirement plan matches.Company
    officials indicated earlier this month when they released fourth-quarter
    financial results that they plan to end some of those cost-cutting
    moves in 2010.But they did not elaborate.Xerox employs 53,600 people
    worldwide.

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