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That sudden chill you're feeling can't be cured by turning up the heat or putting on a sweater. The latest cold front in the ongoing economic meltdown is emanating from the heretofore recession resistant tech sector.

SFGate reports that Cisco Systems will close most of its US and Canadian offices for four days—Dec 29 through Jan 2— as part of a plan to cut $1 billion in costs in the current fiscal year. The company forecasts that sales will fall 5 to 10 percent in the current quarter as the credit crisis chokes off corporate sales.

Stronger still is HP's plan to close its offices for two weeks instead of the traditional one. Further, Apple and Adobe reportedly are also asking workers to take time off.

[u] In related news, AppleInsider reports that Apple Store part timers may see their hours cut ahead of what's expected to be a rough holiday shopping season.

People familiar with the matter say Apple plans to cope with the harsh economic climate by minimizing the need to lay off staff in favor of reducing hours and asking others to perform double duty.[u]

Until now tech has been largely spared the ravages of the credit crisis with both HP and Apple reporting stellar quarterly results.

This news adds tens of thousands of people to the list of those likely to be cutting back this holiday season. What's next? Widespread tech sector layoffs?

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Reader Comments

This appears to be a more common thing going on in corporations during the holidays regarding the time from xmas to new years as they try and trim the PTO or vacation time from the books. The company I work for started this last year asking folks to take the days off and even allowing them to go into deficit if not having enough time. Holiday shutdowns Posted by Guest Poster #1 on 11/26/08 10:20 AM Apple always shuts down and employees don't need to use vacation for it. I believe Adobe is the same. Posted by gesso on 11/26/08 10:47 AM It is the normal Apple shutdown. Has nothing to do with the economy. Apple is doing very well during these hard times. Apple time off Posted by Guest Poster #3 on 11/26/08 10:55 AM ...and absolutely not a story. This is not news Posted by Guest Poster #4 on 11/26/08 11:00 AM The sudden chill I AM feeling is a shudder at M. Sharp's dull sense of grammar. YOU'RE feeling it too, aren't you? Posted by Guest Poster #5 on 11/26/08 11:38 AM Why aren't you dead yet? Posted by Guest Poster #6 on 11/26/08 11:53 AM I'm glad I'm not the only one whose feeling is getting chilled ;-) grammar nazi Posted by Guest Poster #7 on 11/26/08 12:22 PM This is NOT out of the ordinary for APPLE. They do this every year from Christmas to New Years. Anyone that knows Apple knows this. Who ever reported this story is trying to manipulate Apple's stock price AGAIN!!! This story is FUD when it comes to APPLE! Nothing unusual for Apple at this time of year Posted by Guest Poster #8 on 11/26/08 12:37 PM It's clearly has to suck to write about something that you quite obviously did no research about and be so dead wrong about something that almost every current and past employee of Apple knows. How funny are you? Back to the show store at the mall for you... It's gotta suck... Posted by realitybites on 11/26/08 12:52 PM You're right, your grasp of grammar is great! Guest Poster #5 Posted by Bob on 11/26/08 1:26 PM What a dumb title. First, Apple is barely mentioned, second, as others have said, Apple has a yearly 'Winter Shutdown' period from Christmas to New Years and it has nothing to do with the economy or suddenly "asking people to take time off". Geeeezzzzzzz C'mon...... Posted by Guest Poster #11 on 11/26/08 3:30 PM I work for GE and we don't even get new years eve off. My brother works for Apple and gets the entire week of between X-mas and new year every year. That is a perk. Caterpillar and several other companies do that too. THis is a non-news. Apple always shuts down and I am actually jealous Posted by Guest Poster #12 on 11/26/08 8:30 PM If you work for GE transportation or power systems, that's understandable. Posted by Guest Poster #13 on 11/26/08 11:17 PM and they won't be attending Macworld. Yup, just a regular part of their winter shutdown. Adobe laying off workers Posted by Guest Poster #14 on 12/03/08 2:43 PM

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