AFTER years of fat profits and bonuses, cost-cutting is once again at the top of the corporate agenda. For companies wanting to chop out middle-management dead wood or sack factory workers, costs can vary enormously across the world. America, New Zealand and Tonga are among the most company-friendly countries, requiring no penalties or compensation to fire a full-time employee of 20 years. By contrast, a business in Zimbabwe must shell out well over eight years' worth of pay to sack a worker. But companies in Venezuela and Bolivia are even more tied—workers there cannot be fired at all.

在經(jīng)歷了多年的巨額利潤和紅利后，削減成本再一次成為了各大公司議事日程中的頭等大事。對于那些忽然發(fā)現(xiàn)中層管理無所作為或是想要解雇工廠工人的公 司來說，各個國家的解雇成本相差極大。對公司最友好的國家包括美國、新西蘭和湯加等，在這些國家，如果你要解雇一位工作了20年的全職員工，公司不需要支 付賠償金。相反，津巴布韋的企業(yè)想要解雇一名員工就需要向被解雇的員工支付其8年多的收入。而在委內(nèi)瑞拉和玻利維亞，公司根本就不能解雇自己的員工。