According to one recent report, the staffing forecast for next year may be even worse than many have expected.

Due to the struggling economy, 60% of employers plan on cutting staff within the next 12 months, according to a new survey by the Society for Human Resource Management.

Employees likely to be affected include:

• people in technical/professional positions (13% of companies plan to lay off some of those employees)
• unskilled workers (13%), and
• administrative employees (11%).

Least likely to be laid off are executives (1%), salespeople (3%) and middle managers (6%).

In addition, 48% of companies reported having cut staff in 2008.

The survey also reveals details about how companies are handling the logistics of the cutbacks:

• 74% of employers offer severance pay to laid off employees.
• 28% offer career counseling.
• At companies that cut staff in 2008, 59% informed the affected employees in a one-on-one meeting with a supervisor and HR rep.
• When employees were laid off, remaining employees were informed through group meetings (64%), mass e-mails (22%), or through informal conversations with managers (21%).

Tags: communication, layoff, staffing