What is the best way to survive an economic slowdown?

What can employees do in a slowdown to ensure that they survive a meltdown?
Good practice would suggest that in both good and more challenging times neither individuals nor companies should saddle themselves with debts that they cannot manage/repay within a reasonable period. This rule has been less rigorously applied in recent times and hence the problem that the world now has. Individuals can only take responsibility for their own actions and need to assess their own situation. However the puritanical approach of working hard, not being extravagant, focusing on the core priorities for the family will probably serve us as well now as any other approach.		Be frugal, as a frugal foundation to your everyday life will allow you to come out ahead when this economic recession is over; improve your investment strategy by investing for the long term and diversify; establish an emergency financial plan so that if you lose your main source of income today you have a fall back option; protect your job and increase your marketability and finally add additional sources of income by looking into how to you can monetise your skills or explore other niches.
Should workers be ready to take a salary cut in order to tide over a slowdown?
This would probably depend on the situation within the industry rather than necessarily within one company. If the industry is buoyant but a company in that sector is struggling then employees may opt to move to other opportunities. Those companies that can continue to invest, recruit and retain their best employees during lean as well as difficult times tend to emerge from periods of weakness with higher market shares and in a stronger position.		First of all be positive and let the same positive energies flow across your organisation and employees. Negative thinking can create more anxiety and can be more dangerous than the downturn itself. Try to hold on to your nerves and come up with more creative engagement models with your customers and vendors which should be a “win-win” situation for both. If you are in services business, try to sell the same at a premium but negotiate on the payment terms and allow flexible payments options. If you are in product business, probably you can introduce the concept of “we grow as you grow.”
What measures can companies take to see that employee morale is not affected during a   lean period?
Companies are often proud to quote that their greatest asset is their employees so it seems a little strange that when times looked troubled often the first action by companies is to shed staff, downsize operations, lower incentives etc. If you do that to equipment it soon stops working. To achieve the results that companies require during periods of less buoyant growth may well require greater levels of commitment, innovation and going that extra mile for customers to gain that extra bit of the pie. For that you need to retain, encourage, ensure a sense of belief and motivate those most valuable assets.		Present day glut in world’s economy is reminiscent of the recession which took the centre-stage in 1930s. World today is struggling to come to terms with this recession monster. The job losses have been unprecedented. The fallout of this recession has even hit the emerging economies of India and China very hard. India’s services in form of IT and IT-ES have been hit as US and Europe accounts for nearly 60 per cent of the IT sector revenues. More importantly since world economy is integrated today, it will be better if everybody from countries to companies join hands and work towards getting the world economy back on rails.

 
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