What can you say about a CEO who gets rid of the most experienced (and highly paid) part of his workforce, watches his company’s fortunes sink in the face of universal criticism over the plan, then blames poor financial results on “unexpected” fallout from the changes he put in place?

I say he’s an idiot, but I have been saying that about Circuit City’s workforce strategy for most of the year. I said it first in my “Last Word” column last April, then blogged on it here in May and again in August and even fellow blogger Kris Dunn got into it recently in his HR Capitalist blog.

The strategy put in place by Circuit City CEO Philip J. Schoonover is remarkably shortsighted: Get rid of your most senior, highest-paid (and most experienced) floor workers and replace them with lower-paid employees. Although the plan looks to be a money saver on paper, it doesn’t account for the skills lost when those people exit—such as product knowledge and the ability to help customers figure out what they want.

Circuit City has been in a freefall since Schoonover’s plan was put in place, and the most recent quarterly results show that the company continues to lose sales while its rivals (primarily Best Buy) get stronger and better. In fact, Circuit City’s stock dropped by another 25 percent last week when the latest quarterly results were announced.

“Circuit City reported a much worse-than-expected loss for the third quarter, with sharply lower sales and weakened margins,” said a report on The Street.com. “The retailer blamed the shortfall on its ongoing ‘transformation’ efforts—which have yet to transform the company.” The story went on to say that “earlier this year, the company announced a sweeping restructuring, with one of its plans involving the layoff of 3,400 employees in favor of lower-paid workers. Analysts say that has come back to bite the company as inexperienced staff results in weaker levels of customer service and disorder in its stores.”

But that’s not the best of it. What has to be galling to Circuit City investors and employees is the reaction from CEO Schoonover to this debacle. He says that he “underestimated the financial impact from the disruption of our transformation work.”

It’s hard to believe that anyone, much less a CEO and the architect of such a short-sighted workforce strategy, could have underestimated the potential downside of such an ill-conceived plan, but I guess you don’t get to be CEO of a company like Circuit City unless you have a personality brimming with chutzpah.

Sometimes people learn more from what goes really wrong than what goes really right. Schoonover’s Circuit City plan is one for business schools everywhere. It will undoubtedly be fodder for lectures on strategies that made no sense, yet were inflicted upon a company and were diligently followed—right over the cliff.

Here’s my first prediction for 2008: Circuit City’s board will eventually weigh in on Schoonover and his “underestimated” financial impact and will ring in the new year—perhaps a bit late—by finally giving him the boot. As someone who appreciates good workforce management, I say it can’t come soon enough.

This is normally a time of hope, when people everywhere celebrate and contemplate the new year that will soon be upon us. It is a season of warm feelings and good spirits as we look ahead. And, that’s why a survey released this week by Hudson is jarring and disconcerting.

The Hudson Employment Index, a national poll of 2,000 U.S. workers conducted November 30 and December 1, 2007, found that workers everywhere are glum and pessimistic about the state of the U.S. economy and their own personal work outlook heading into the new year. This isn’t a big shock given ongoing concerns about the U.S. housing market, the collapse of numerous subprime lenders, oil priced at more than $90 a barrel and a tepid holiday sales season, but the Hudson index puts it all in pretty stark terms. For example:

• Nearly half (46 percent) of workers surveyed feel the leaders of their organization believe the economy is getting worse.

• More than one in five (21 percent) workers expect their job prospects in the coming year to be worse than in 2007, compared with 15 percent who felt this way a year ago. Some 30 percent say it is not at all likely they will be looking for a new job next year (compared with 26 percent last year).

• Just 57 percent of workers expect to earn more in 2008, down from 63 percent last year.

The index also shows that workers have gone from feeling very optimistic about the prospects for their company and their own personal finances last March, when it hit a record high, to very pessimistic in November, when the index hit a record low.

And to follow up on my Business of Management blog item from earlier this week, only 23 percent of workers expect a holiday bonus this year, down from 24 percent who felt that way last year.

It isn’t good when employees feel this bad about their organizations, their finances and their job prospects heading into the new year. Managers and executives everywhere need to take note and do whatever they can to help ease the very real concerns that are rippling through workers, because as you probably know all too well, a pessimistic workforce is a less productive workforce.

This shouldn’t be surprising to any manager or workforce executive today, but a new study by Hewitt Associates www.hewitt.com confirms what you probably already know: The annual holiday bonus is nearly kaput.

The Hewitt study of more than 350 organizations found that 63 percent won’t be offering a holiday bonus this year. The 2007 holiday study also reveals that more than half (53 percent) of the organizations surveyed have never offered a holiday bonus, while 10 percent have discontinued their programs.

“Of those that canceled their holiday bonus initiatives, 53 percent did so between 2000 and 2007,” Hewitt said in a news release announcing the findings. “Companies said they eliminated holiday bonuses primarily due to cost (50 percent), development of pay-for-performance programs (37 percent), or difficulty in administering bonus programs (16 percent). Of those companies that never offered a holiday bonus program, 54 percent said that all rewards are tied to performance, 34 percent said it was due to cost, and 29 percent never considered such a program.”

If you are lucky enough to be working for one of the increasingly rare companies that still do offer a holiday bonus, you are most likely to get a gift card (42 percent) or cash award (41 percent). “Another 25 percent will give employees a gift of food (e.g., turkey or ham), and 20 percent will give some type of catalog gift,” according to the survey. “For the few who receive gift cards, the amount will likely go up this year with companies giving an average of $52, up from $37 last year. The average cash gift given will be $842, compared to $837 last year.”

Not surprising, the study also found that 90 percent of the organizations surveyed are now relying on “variable pay plans (performance-based bonuses that must be re-earned annually) to show their appreciation to hard-working employees this year.”

The performance-based bonuses—usually awarded when company and/or departmental goals are met or exceeded—generally amount to far more than a worker would receive as a holiday bonus. According to Hewitt, actual company spending on variable pay as a percentage of payroll was 11.8 percent in 2007, and it is projected to be 11.6 percent in 2008.

The holiday bonus is a nice tradition, but like Gene Autry singing “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” one that is gradually fading away. Performance bonuses are much more 21st century and generally a better deal for everyone. Not only do they motivate workers to help the organization meet its goals, but the payout is bigger and more meaningful. You win when the company wins—and isn’t that something worth celebrating at holiday time?

Every December, the editors here at Workforce Management get inundated with all manner of news releases and PR pitches built around the premise that the annual office holiday party is a lawsuit waiting to happen.

The flood of hype seems to grow more ominous and hysterical with each passing season, and there seems to be no end to the number of publicists touting their “expert” client as someone who can offer all the right answers to organizations wanting to avoid a workforce disaster.

Most of these pitches are dumb and simplistic, but sometimes, one comes across that boggles even my jaded and discerning mind. So in the spirit of giving that dominates this time of year, I offer up these legal “tips” from an attorney who urges employers “to carefully look at their policies to protect themselves from possible lawsuits.”

These are “preventative measures,” he notes, but to my mind, they are just another example of our overly litigious society, where courtesy and common sense seem to get short shrift. Take a read of a few of them; tell me what you think, either posting below or sending an e-mail to jhollon@workforce.com:

* Set a tone of moderation by sending a memo reminding employees that the party is a business-related function.

* Circulate anti-¬harassment policies before the party to remind employees that it covers the party, including prohibiting offensive touching and joking (e.g., sexual, racial, ethnic, etc.).

* Do not serve salty foods such as chicken wings that encourage additional drinking.

* Consider having spotters/monitors or adequate security.

* Avoid bands or DJs playing “slow dances.”

* Check relevant insurance policies for possible coverage.

This e-mail subject line jumped out at me from my inbox.

It trumpeted “The Great 8 of 2007,” and it made me wonder: Was it a list of the eight greatest managers of 2007, or innovative HR practices, or maybe even the greatest workforce trends of the year?

No, it was much more mundane than that—simply the top-selling books of the year at the SHRM store.

Here are the “Great 8” books of 2007, which I offer them without comment, but would love to hear any thoughts you might have on the underlying message (if any) of this list:

U.S. Master Human Resources Guide (Ninth Edition), by Donald W. Myers, D.B.A.

Human Resource Management (12th Edition; textbook), By John H. Jackson and Robert L. Mathis, SPHR.

Effective Succession Planning: Ensuring Leadership Continuity and Building Talent from Within (Third Edition), by William J. Rothwell.

Auditing Your Human Resources Department: A Step-By-Step Guide, by John H. McConnell.

From Sex to Religion (Employee DVD version), G. Neil (publisher).

101 Sample Write-Ups for Documenting Employee Performance Problems: A Guide to Progressive Discipline & Termination, by Paul Falcone.

Performance Appraisal Sourcebook: A Collection of Practical Samples, by Mike Deblieux.

The Carrot Principle: How the Best Managers Use Recognition to Engage Their People, Retain Talent and Accelerate Performance, by Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton.