How to Survive A Recession

Maxed Out Mama has some good advice on surviving a recession and how to ferret out if your company is in trouble. She says (go read it all):

So it's terribly important to pay attention to your working environment to catch those subtle clues that your company may not be doing so well. If your company is publicly traded, you should read their quarterly and annual SEC filings, and you should periodically check Edgar to see if management and board are selling stock. But there are many other environmental clues, such as:

• Management all moves to a separate area which is closed off from the working peons.
  
• The background music at a company function seems to be "Nearer, My God, To Thee".
• Human Resources starts including helpful articles about "Understanding COBRA" and a chapter by chapter discussion of "What Color Is Your Parachute" in their monthly newsletter.

I would also add: the company is in trouble when it stops all transfers, freezes new hires and starts discussions about a "re-org".