While 2008 may well go down in history as the start of the current recession, it looks like 2009 may be the year of the four day work week. Many companies, struggling to stay afloat, are turning to a compressed four day work week. By cutting everyone back, companies are able to cope with reduced demand and still keep a healthy pool of skilled employees. Sadly, by cutting a day off of the workweek, they are also cutting employee pay up to 20%

As BusinessWeek looked into the trend, it also found that many companies are taking extended breaks over the holiday season. This isn't just happening at larger companies like Dell; smaller companies like the one my father works for have been closed since last Friday, a week longer than normal. Additionally, when they return in January they will be moving to 4-9 hour work days in order to cope with reduced demand. The story isn't much different where my father-in-law works, with an extended break and shifts being shortened across the board.

While cutting a day off of the work week without adding hours on to other days is a hardship for employees, I am glad to see so many companies work to keep more of their workers employed. If you have been shifted to a four day work week and you suspect your employer will still have to make cuts in the near future, make use of your time off. Having a free day during the week is an excellent time to schedule an interview or pick up some part time work to make up for hours that have been cut.

It's hard to believe that not nine months ago so many of us were clamoring for a four day workweek to help save ourselves and our companies from record high energy costs.

If you have interacted with a company at any time over the past year, the results of a recent Harris poll may be of no surprise to you. The survey found that 87% of adults who had taken part in an online transaction were disappointed with the experience, furthermore the survey indicated that 41% of those who had issues went to a competitor rather than deal with a substandard experience.

This is bad news for companies but good news for consumers, since one of the best ways to tell a company to improve is to take your dollars elsewhere.

Normally surveys and numbers don't excite me too much, but the trend I am seeing from this survey has me elated even as companies around me are declaring bankruptcy. The survey showed me that consumers are feeling more empowered and starting to stand up to shoddy behavior from the companies they interact with. Harris found that 4 out of 5 customers shared their negative experiences with others to protect them from a poor experience.

This information sharing wasn't limited to blogs and complaints in Facebook statuses which took up just 7% of the online portion of complaints, but through interactions in the real world, which is where 82% of adults took their complaints. While the offline modes they chose aren't as extreme as putting up a billboard to warn other consumers, the reality is that consumers are standing up for themselves.

I hope that this survey is an indicator that consumers as a whole won't put up with bad customer service and poor online transactions. If more people start calling companies on their actions and taking their dollars elsewhere the marketplace as a whole will improve as these poor performers are pushed to the bottom quicker.