retrenchment
noun [ C or U ]
uk/rɪˈtrentʃmənt/ us MANAGEMENT, FINANCE
the act of spending less or reducing costs:
The closures will be the first substantial retrenchment at the store for 10 years.
The big retrenchment in aerospace manufacturing in the early 1990s eventually infected the entire state economy.
Businesses are going for growth, after the retrenchment of recent years.
HR, WORKPLACE Australian English
the act of removing a worker from a job as a way of saving the cost of employing them:
Some firms are using retrenchments as a cost reduction measure.
This resulted in the retrenchment of 40,000 public servants.