How do you know that times are really getting tough for businesses all over America? It’s when you hear stories about companies “offering” employees goodies like unpaid time off—as a last-ditch attempt to make it through the quarter.

Texas-based computer giant Dell trotted the idea out this week when, according to The Dallas Morning News, CEO Michael Dell sent out an e-mail to workers encouraging them to take up to a week of unpaid leave as part of an effort to cut costs this quarter. Dell’s memo also had this ominous twist: “The note explained that although the leave program is voluntary,” the newspaper reported, “the company may resort to layoffs if it cannot save as much as hoped through this round of cutbacks.”

And that’s not all Dell is doing to cut costs. “Dell hopes it can better weather the economic storm by implementing a number of new cost-cutting measures, including an enhanced severance package for employees who voluntarily leave the company,” according to PC World.

“Within the next couple of weeks, employees will be able to apply for a voluntary separation plan under which they can leave the company and receive a severance package that is better than Dell’s regular offer,” a Dell spokesperson told the magazine.

All of this comes on top of a nearly completed layoff of 8,900 workers—10 percent of the company’s workforce—that was announced in May 2007, as well as a current undisclosed reduction in the number of Dell’s contractors and temporary employees.

Michael Dell has been working hard to try to fire up the troops since he returned as CEO, and he’s had mixed success in bringing glory back to the computer maker that was famous for its just-in-time manufacturing model.

In order to pare $3 billion in costs from the company’s budget by 2011, Dell has been rummaging through his bag of tricks and pulling out just about every cost-cutting and budget-reduction device imaginable, according to The Wall Street Journal. While $3 billion is a lot of cutting, the really scary thing is that the Journal has a Dell spokesperson saying that “the latest moves are designed to cut costs beyond the $3 billion target … and will better position the company for long-term competitiveness.”

So that’s why Dell’s workforce is getting “offered” the opportunity to take some unpaid time off between now and the end of January. It’s just another sign of the times, of course, but that doesn’t make it any more palatable. And if Dell can get enough people to take the company up on this unpaid vacation “offer,” it will likely be a trend you’ll see other me-too managers and executives drop on their workforces.

Is this a bad trend, or better than the alternative of being out of a job? Is five days’ unpaid time off really such a bad thing? I don’t know how you feel, but it kind of runs counter to the uplifting words of hope we heard from President-elect Barack Obama. And it clearly shows again, as if we needed any more proof, that he’s walking into a really tough economic mess that will quickly put him to the test. Let’s all hope he has some fresh answers and new solutions to get us all back on track.