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 do n'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 SolutionsInternational Normative Database say that it's important that their organization allow them to choose from a variety of benefits