A day after still more layoffs at one big publishing institution — see yesterday’s story about Publisher’s Weekly — rumblings of more departures, albeit invited departures this time, and another major player: HarperCollins yesterday launched a campaign to get more of its employees to voluntarily depart. As Jim Milliot reports in this brief Publishers Weekly story, the company has offered “voluntary retirement packages” to all employees over 55 and they want answers within a week. And if not enough people take it? Milliot reports “Spokesperson Erin Crum wouldn’t disclose how many positions HC is looking to cut,” and “wouldn’t rule out the possibility of layoffs down the line. In fact, Crum says “given the uncertainty of the times we’re looking at all options to control costs.” At Publishers Lunch (in an article unavailable as a link), Michael Cader makes the astute observation that the or-else deadline given to accept the package (3 February) is two days before the company has to report its quarterly earnings.