In 2008 as the Great Recession was beginning, the CEO of Microchip Semiconductors called an all-hands meeting and announced that there would be no layoffs. Zero. Because demand was cratering, production workers would be put on rotating furloughs scheduled so that they could receive unemployment compensation. The people in R&D etc got 10% pay cuts top to bottom and nobody would get any bonuses (which were a sizable chunk of the compensation for the higher ranks.)
Another part of the employee compensation, top to bottom, was stock grants. These continued, with the amounts adjusted for the (dramatically) reduced stock valuation. IOW, if you were getting 10 shares a month at $40 a share, you got 25 shares a month at $16 per share.
A few people left on their own, no hard feelings all around.
A few months into the recovery, demand came back with a roar. MCHP’s competitors were scrambling to replace workers who had been laid off, but MCHP just called theirs back and were rolling. Development projects had continued uninterrupted, and MCHP scored a lot of business from its competitors both near and long term.
Topping it off, the company added back pay and bonuses although that wasn’t part of their original commitment.
Last I heard, the management had turned its “no layoffs, ever” policy into a long-term one. I probably should ask how they’re doing with Covid (yes, I was working for them in 2008. I’ve since retired, early, in part because my 401K came out of the Great Recession fat and healthy.)
