Employee Furloughs - Publications - Faculty & Research

07 May 2020
Research & Ideas

The One Good Thing Caused by COVID-19: Innovation

accommodating an appropriate level of economic activity. Businesses have historically overcome this type of challenge through the introduction of risk-mitigating technologies, which in this pandemic include technologies, business practices, and strategies that improve... View Details

Keywords: by Hong Luo and Alberto Galasso

01 May 2020
In Practice

COVID-19’s Hard Lessons Might Prepare Business for Climate Change

The coronavirus pandemic caught the business world by surprise, but the catastrophe might force companies to face a crisis that has been unfolding in plain sight: climate change. We asked faculty members affiliated with the Business and Environment Initiative at... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

13 Apr 2020
Research & Ideas

Small Businesses Are Worse Off Than We Thought

firms are temporarily closed and 40 percent of the workforce, on average, has been laid off or furloughed since late January. Retail, entertainment, food services, hospitality, and personal services industries have been hit hardest as... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Financial Services

29 May 2020
Op-Ed

How Leaders Are Fighting Food Insecurity on Three Continents

fundamentally changed SecondBite’s operating model. Declared an essential service in early March, it immediately appointed a pandemic coordinator and developed a four-phase pandemic response plan that included health screening and personal protective equipment for all... View Details

Keywords: by Howard Stevenson and Shirley Spence; Agriculture & Agribusiness

25 Nov 2014
First Look

First Look: November 25

cuts in all parts of the business. They face choices in whether to employ layoffs or furloughs (unpaid leaves) for any needed workforce reductions, and whether to enact hiring freezes and other cost-saving changes to View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

04 Feb 2021
Research & Ideas

Inside CEOs' Pandemic Worries: Uncertainty, Employees, and Kids

Employee well-being. CEOs were concerned about their employees: their safety on the job; overall well-being; and their own task as leaders of “keeping up morale and managing people’s fears.” Having to make decisions under uncertainty... View Details

Keywords: by Gamze D. Yucaoglu, Robin Abrahams, and Boris Groysberg

13 Jun 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, June 13

Harvard Business School Case 314-097 Furloughs: An Alternative to Layoffs for Economic Downturns This note describes the practice of employee furloughs (also known as work sharing or short-time work)... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

08 May 2020
In Practice

Nonprofits Hurt by COVID-19 Must Hoard Cash to Hold On

(e.g. rent). Next, reduce fixed costs, starting with salary cuts that commence at the top and the furloughing of all non-essential staff. Finally, reorganize to operate with a permanent lower fixed-cost base. Third, they must protect the... View Details