6-1. After eight years as a marketing assistant for the New York office of a large French bank, Sarah Schiffler was told that her job, in a non–revenue producing department, was being eliminated. Her choices: She could either be laid off (with eight months’ severance pay) or stay on and train for the position of credit analyst, a career route she had turned down in the past. Nervous about making mortgage payments on her new condo, Sarah agreed to stay, but after six months of feeling miserable in her new position, she quit. Was her separation from the bank voluntary or involuntary? Can you think of situations in which a voluntary separation is really an involuntary separation? What are the managerial implications of such situations?

6-2. The Manager’s Notebook, “Voluntary Turnover in China,” addresses the high rate at which workers in China have been choosing to quit their jobs. Do you think voluntary turnover is becoming more of an issue in the United States? If you are a manager, do you think that voluntary turnover is an issue? How would you deal with it?

6-3. Would an employer ever want to increase the rate of employee turnover in a company? Why or why not?

6-4. In an age when more and more companies are downsizing, an increasingly important concept is the “virtual corporation.” The idea is that a company should have a core of owners and managers, but that, to the greatest degree possible, workers should be contingent—temporary, part-time, or on short-term contracts. This gives the corporation maximum flexibility to shift vendors, cut costs, and avoid long-term labor commitments. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the virtual corporation from the points of view of both employers and the workers?

6-5. Under what circumstances might a company’s managers prefer to use layoffs instead of early retirements or voluntary severance plans as a way to downsize the workforce?

6-6. Under what set of conditions should a company lay off employees without giving them advance notice?

6-7. Carrying out terminations usually is the responsibility of the manager. However, the manager may not always be involved in determining who should be let go. Do you think direct managers should have input into which of their workers should be laid off? Why or why not? If a manager and HR staff disagrees on who should be laid off, how do you think the disagreement should be resolved?

6-8. Managing survivors in a layoff is important. As a manager, what concerns would you have about the surviving workforce after a layoff? How can the HR management staff be of assistance in providing support for the survivors to a layoff?

6-9. Why should management be concerned with helping employees retire from their organization successfully?

6-10. The departure of senior workers through retirement can mean that years of experience and knowledge are walking out an organization’s doors. This “brain drain” can cripple an organization’s ability to remain competitive, particularly if it is difficult to regularly hire younger talent. What approaches would you recommend to reduce this problem?

6-11. You have noticed that the overall turnover rate for your company is about average for your industry. Does this average rate mean their turnover isn’t a problem? Considering the source and type of turnover discussed in Exhibit 6.1, describe how this average rate might or might not indicate a problem.