Companies Don’t Need to Lay People Off to Survive

How one CEO saved his 12,000-person company without a single layoff

Photo courtesy of Bob Chapman

When the financial crisis hit in 2008, Bob Chapman was faced with an impossible choice: lay off thousands of his workers, or go out of business. A few years prior, Barry-Wehmiller — a 125-year-old St. Louis-based manufacturing technology company — had publicly committed to “measure success by how they touch the lives of people.” Determined to not break that promise, Chapman came up with a third, seemingly impossible, option that would allow his company to survive the recession without laying off any of his 12,000-plus employees. By finding creative ways to avoid letting people go, his business emerged on other side of the recession stronger, with a workforce not only intact, but energized.

Today, Barry-Wehmiller is a $3 billion privately held company that finds itself staring down the barrel of another recession. Fortunately, it’s in the business of building equipment for essential manufacturing industries like paper processing and packaging (think toilet tissue and Amazon boxes). So while the pandemic might not pose an immediate threat, CEO Chapman is already gearing up for another downturn, contemplating the proactive cost-saving measures he can take to retain his thousands of employees. Chapman spoke with Marker about…