ANTenna Blog -- Business & E-Business

As spooked companies around the world race to trim expenses as quickly as they can, layoffs are the most common device. They don't have to be.

Earlier this week I wrote a column decrying companies that claim family values even as they usher employees out the door.

Ugh.

But I also noted one mid-size company that didn't lay off anyone even in the darkest hours of the dot.com bust. Of course, there are lots more companies like that, as noted in this CNN.com article: Employers: No Layoffs Here. Writer Jessica Dickler cites Southwest Airlines, equipment maker Hypertherm, Lincoln Electric, steelmaker Nucor, FedEx, Aflac, Toyota Motor North America, health care system provider ThedaCare, and Erie Insurance for their no-layoff policies -- whether formal and informal.

And Dickler notes support for this idea from government:

In a recent interview with Tom Brokaw, President-elect Barack Obama urged business owners to "figure out ways in which workers maybe have to take a haircut, but they can still keep their jobs, they can still keep their health care and they can still stay in their homes."

So how do you do it?

Jason Zickerman, president and CEO of business coaching group The Alternative Board shared a number of techniques with CNN and ConnectIT:

1. Have employees shorter work weeks at reduced pay. Cutting the work week from 5 days to 4 days will shrink payroll expenses by 20% (not counting benefits).

2. Encourage employees to take unpaid sabbaticals

3. Offer buyouts

4. Extend unpaid year-end breaks

5. Offer -- or even mandate -- unpaid vacation time

6. Swap or loan out employees to other businesses that may need temporary project or seasonal help.

The hope is that these moves will help make an organization more cohesive and boost productivity by making employees more motivated and efficient. They can also help keep your best people on board, and make it easier to hire when conditions improve.

Just be careful to avoid making promises you can't keep. Avoiding layoffs is great, but saying you won't lay off anyone and then having to go ahead and do it anyway can give your credibility -- and your company's -- a serious hit.