(CareerBuilder.com) -- 2009 has given employers and employees a run for their money -- literally. Budgets have been cut, layoffs made and furloughs instituted, and benefits and perks have evaporated.



At the beginning of the year, 38 percent of employers said the economy would force them to make administrative cuts sometime during 2009, according to a survey by CareerBuilder.com.



Sixty-five percent of those employers indicated that they would cut back company social events, 61 percent anticipated curtailing business travel, 25 percent expected to scale back on health-care benefits and 11 percent planned to reduce wellness benefits.



Other areas where companies planned to cut spending included special office perks, such as coffee, ice machines or discounted vending (34 percent), incentive trips (28 percent) and philanthropic activities (21 percent).



Such perks and benefits being taken away make for a tough situation for employees. Not only are they working harder to keep their jobs, but workers have to do more for less. While some argue that it's hard to keep employees motivated in this situation, others say that they shouldn't focus on incentives, but rather think about the bigger picture.



"When perks and benefits are taken away, management often does this to allocate resources where they're needed, elsewhere. The money being saved by not buying bagels every Friday or purchasing Christmas gifts for employees may be going towards your salary," said Tom Gimbel, founder and CEO of LaSalle Network, a staffing and recruiting firm.



"If you had to choose between taking a salary cut and not having free coffee versus being let go, most employees would likely take the former."



Urmil "Tracy" Marshall, coordinator for the Office of Diversity and International Affairs at Fort Valley State University in Fort Valley, Georgia., agrees that it's important not to focus on what is being taken away. She said that due to budgetary constraints, furloughs were implemented at the school; but rather than get discouraged, she focused on the positive.



"I reminded myself how blessed I was to even have a job," Marshall said. "We need to remind ourselves of our priorities in life, placing a greater emphasis on what we have -- not what we don't."



Communication is key



Although it's understandable for employees to be upset, frustrated and discouraged when benefits or perks are taken away, Kevin Sheridan, founder and CEO of HR Solutions, which specializes in helping organizations to keep employees engaged, said that employees are less likely to be upset if management communicates with employees.



In fact, 82 percent of employees surveyed in HR Solutions' International Normative Database say that it's important that their organization allow them to choose from a variety of benefits to meet their individual needs. The survey consisted of more than 3.3 million responses from 2,400 organizations.



"If an organization's leadership team simply decided amongst themselves which benefits would be best to cut, employees will commonly become upset and their engagement will be negatively affected," Sheridan says. "Open communication is a key driver of engagement, and employees will immediately recognize the fact that they had no voice in the situation. If leadership had simply asked employees which benefits were important to them, this situation may be avoided."



Attitude is everything



Despite having to deal temporarily with a few displaced benefits or perks, there are benefits to sticking around with your employer until those things are reinstated.



"It's a good time to remember that the perks were never the reason that you liked the job. No one gets up in the morning saying, 'I'm really excited to go to the office because there's free coffee,'" said Paul Glen, author and management columnist. "If people feel that the [cuts] are being made in a good-faith effort to save jobs, they will be even more loyal than before, since they believe that the company is working on their behalf -- not just for executives."



Additionally, according to the HR Solutions survey, 37 percent of employees have thought of resigning in the last six months. Twenty-
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and perks have evaporated. company social events, Communication is key choose from a variety of benefits (CareerBuilder.com)
question: Are employee benefits being cut?, answer: and perks have evaporated. | question: What did many husinesses say they would have to cut?, answer: company social events, | question: Should businesses communicate bad news to employees?, answer: Communication is key | question: What should management communicate to the employees?, answer: choose from a variety of benefits | question: Who said they would have to make large cuts in employee benefits?, answer: (CareerBuilder.com)