Excerpt: For most companies, this won't be an easy time. There will be pain. In these difficult conditions, leaders must strike the right balance between involving employees in determining how to go forward, and taking responsibility for some of the hard decisions. Where sales levels will simply no longer support the existing payroll, for example, something will have to be done. Leaders should solicit ideas and preferences from the employee-owners as to what exactly should be done to deal with that reality. People may be open to cutting salaries for all in lieu of laying off some - or individuals may volunteer to reduce their hours to a part time role. At some employee-owned companies, young single employees have even volunteered for layoff where necessary to keep a family breadwinner on the payroll. All such creative measures should be considered. Still, there will be circumstances in which hard decisions - even unpopular ones - will be required. Employees may be uncomfortable with the notion of suggesting that colleagues should lose their jobs. Final decisions, therefore, must be the responsibility of management, who may sometimes best serve the company by being the 'bad guy.'

MORE >>