Business briefs

Biz bites

Happy holidays! Now take a hike

It's job-cutting season.

For seven of the past nine years, American companies have announced more layoffs in the last three months of the year than during other periods, according to the federal bureau of labor statistics.

Whatever happened to the season of charity, office parties and general goodwill?

"That has changed since it's no longer a stigma for employees to be laid off, or for companies to make cutbacks," said Annie Stevens, a managing partner for Clearrock, Boston-based executive and career-development enterprise. "For those organizations that need to, trimming their payrolls before the beginning of a new year to enable them to get a fresh start has become more commonplace."

Companies often low-ball salaries

If you feel the money you're being offered for a new job is too low, it probably is, according to a salary survey of hiring managers. Most companies leave themselves some room to come up closer to your liking when they make an initial offer. That's the word from a query of 875 hiring managers surveyed by careerbuilder.com.

Nearly 60 percent of the managers said they're willing to extend a new offer if a candidate requests more money. But only about 10 percent said they'll do so twice.

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Contact Business Editor Damon Cline at: (706) 823-3486 or damon.cline@augustachronicle.com.