Lower-than-expected sales have driven the chip maker to reduce its revenue outlook for the first quarter and begin trimming 10 percent of work force.

Motorola settles with Icahn, accepts board nominees (Reuters)

Reuters - Motorola Inc said on Monday it will support two of billionaire investor Carl Icahn's four proposed board nominees, settling a year-long proxy battle to turn around the struggling mobile phone company.

This one small mistake or omission can mean the difference between a judge finding you guilty of improper separation or successfully ridding the company of an employee. o Change the jobholder's passwords for computer access. Never try to layoff a worker "on the fly." You are opening yourself up to legal issues and giving the jobholder ammunition to argue about his or her layoff.

Preparing Your Grounds for Sacking Personnel for Misconduct Ahead of Time. o The higher the termination risk, the higher the chance you'll face a legal action. You owe it to your personnel to be the one to spread the news. Often, they are personnel who are problem or who have a bad outlook, and they do major damage to your workplace environment and productivity. Some provide advanced warning so the jobholder can prepare while others will just let employees know that day. Small company managers and owners must be careful when dismissing and laying off workers, because their company's survival is at stake. So, while it may be difficult to file a worker, particularly if you have formed a relationship with that person, you must consider your company and your other employees. The employee, in effect, fired himself. There are several reasons you may decide to lay off an employee. This memorandum is the final step in a long list of steps followed when firing a jobholder. You should tackle gossip in the workplace appropriately so it does not lead to major problems. These costs could include performance inefficiencies, poor employee esprit de corps or the emotional toll of the problem individual's behavior.