i watched my father nearly go bankrupt in 1989 trying to keep men working. We went from 40 men to 0 in the course of about 14 months (anyone in business at the time will remember how it hit the fan at that time)
He tried to keep the last 10 going until things turned around. They didn't turn around until about the mid 1990's.
Unfortunately, had he let them go sooner, he would have been in much better financial shape. It's a tough call.
The way I see it, as contractors we have everything tied up in these businesses (for the most part) if they fail, we are pretty screwed. The guys that work for us can always find another job. Shoot, most of us suck to work for anyway.
So, while you feel bad that they have a family, etc - what's going to happen when you go into debt keeping them working and things don't turn around? You'll have lost everything and they'll move on to their next job. Same as if you laid them off before you went broke.
That being said, layoffs are tough on everyone. But sometimes, they are definately necessary.
This comes from a contractors POV. If i were coming from an employees POV, then any boss who lays guys off just cause they are slow is an ***hole. The boss is rich. He makes a ton of money off me, now he's gonna lay me off? That's bull****. I do all the work, he makes all the money. Without me, he'll go broke. Without me, he'll never get anything done........
