Illustration Essay

The current economy has put many out of work and sent many jobs to other states and countries. Although this has not affected my family personally because my father is a business owner, I see how it has affected a lot of his employees when they were forced to downsize. First it began with budget costs, and onto pay cuts, and finally downsizing of staff members. The first step in recovering a business from the plunging hit in the economy is to start making budget cuts. At my father’s trucking company, Churchill from Detroit, they began with switching to more energy efficient equipment. Churchill also cut the truck driver’s lunch fund. This was a fund set aside to make sure there was always a refrigerator full of food in the trucker’s lounge. They had decided that this was not a necessity in the company; it was just a perk to keep their drivers happy. Another budget cut they had to make was to cancel company barbeques and picnics. Most businesses like to treat their employees to a picnic of some sort usually to keep the moral up and make sure hard work doesn’t go unnoticed. The next step of keeping a business afloat with the pain of the economy is employees taking pay cuts. This is a huge way to save the company money while they are attempting to stay in business. Many employees are willing to take voluntary pay cuts to help their company stay in business. I believe that many do this because they are ensured that they have a job while thousands of people are out struggling to find work. Paying employees for their work is very expensive and those who have been with the company for a long time are attached personally and do not want to see their place of employment go under. Finally, the worst step of how businesses are affected with the economy, is the downsizing of its staff. This puts many out of work and off to fight to find a new job with all of those who are already struggling. This also brings the unemployment rates up, which are already