In early february, casino mogul stevernWynn took a stand on layoffs. The gaming industry is flailing-Nevada regulators recently formed a task force on bankruptcies-but when it came to cutting costs by cutting employees, Wynn wouldn't hear of it.rnInstead, Wynn announced that everyone at his company's two Las Vegas properties, Wynn and Encore, would take a pay cut. Salaried workers earning $150,000 or more would see a 15% drop in their paychecks; those making less would take a 10% hit. Hourly employees would go from a 40-hour to a 3 2-hour week. The idea: save millions of dollars without putting anyone out of a job while maintaining the service level at the luxury hotels. "We don't want anybody on unemployment here," Wynn said at the time, "or without insurance."rnLet's hope it works. Pay cuts to avoid layoffs have become increasingly popular in corporate America. It's a choice that oozes compassion (never mind that many of these pay cuts become permanent) and keeps companies poised to quickly scalernoperations back to full force when the economy rebounds. But that's a big contingency, one that firms trying to do the right thing for both workers and shareholders are starting to trip over.rnIn December, FedEx announced that its senior executives would earn 7.5% to 10% less, while its U.S.-based salaried workers would take a 5% haircut-affecting 36,000 people. "But even these measures," CEO Fred Smith said in a message to employees, "may not be enough to offset the rapidly deteriorating economy that has hit our industry so hard." In early April, the company let go of 1,000 employees.
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