'Would you take a pay cut?' Poll results/discussion

BobbinAlong

I can say No Way because I work for the money wasting government as a civil servant and having recently found a payslip from 2001 realise my well below industry level take home pay has been very much the same since then with first local govenment then civil service. And now we have a 2% rise offerred. 2% of nothing is nothing!

The_Miser

nykmedia wrote: »

Then there are those small companies who would prefer to pay off all but their very best staff members and then rehire on temporary contracts during peak periods. Business is business and, in Martin's own words,

"The Three Most Important Lessons You've Never Been Taught"

1. A company's job is to make money from you
2. Debt isn't bad, bad debt is bad
3. Loyalty doesn't pay.

As for the possibility of people being offered negative payrises in line with a possible negative inflation rate, who is to say that it couldn't happen? What if your contract of employment states annual incrimental adjustments in line with inflation? Or what if you are on a low wage, inflation's at 5% and you don't get a payrise? Isn't that very similar to taking a pay cut?

I won't argue too strongly with Martin's lessons. (A company's object is to provide a service - because if it doesn't supply the service it won't make money, but that is being pernickety.)

The question was about each of the company's 200 employees taking a cut to avoid 20 people being laid off. The implication was that, given agreement, the employees would keep their jobs for the foreseeable future. Employees are being invited to a variation in their contracts - to drop the inflation link for example and to have their wages at that point in time cut. That was the question.

The question of subsequent loss of buying power through inflation, although relevant in the real world, was not included in the question. Those answering then survey may well have had that as a factor in deciding; that would be their decision.

You have seen directors take pay cuts - like the example I quoted and all power to them. You have seen the different ways of reducing the size of the mworkforce's cost to the company again something which respondents could have had in mind, but outside the terms of the original question. Yes, there have been cases where a wages cut has not worked - just try to forecast everything. My argument was that this critical situation should not have arrived - during the strong times the directors should have laid aside reserves to avoid such a situation (called contingency planning) - that their business model was wrong. This is the case with too many companies - some stagger through for quite a while, some fail early on. Taking a wage cut c o u l d help the company to struggle through the worst so that when employees do leave there will be a demand for their labour.

pinkfluffybabe

I answered yes because if I was given the straight choice between job or no job I would want to keep my job at a reduced rate.

I might have selected a different answer if I had to consider the possible reasons behind the need for it, the liklihood of top management doing the same, and whether or not redundancy would get rid of the lazy folk.

Frugaldom

The Miser - I do know what the original question asks and I suspect it has been written as such on purpose.

Would you take a pay cut to save your company?

Would I take a pay cut to save MY company? Yes, of course I would, if it was my company then I would want to do everything I could to save it.

Due to the economic climate, your employer announces it needs to radically reduce its outgoings to keep the company's head above water.

I would need an explanation of what 'economic climate' really means in terms of the business that's asking me to take the pay cut and how radical the reduction needed to be for the longterm.

Reluctant to cut jobs, the boss sends a memo

The 'boss' who sends a memo about something as important as pay cuts and the potential for future redundancies in a small/medium company (200 employees) doesn't seem to give a stuff about the staff.

asking all 200 employees if they would agree to take a 10% pay cut, which should save 20 people from being made redundant.

The word 'should' just about says it all.

Would you agree to the pay cut?

I stand by my original answer. But I also like the answer provided by Rag31, despite the fact that I could miss out on the golden handshake, vouchers or watch. :rotfl:

Natalie6999

Instead of asking the workers to take a pay cut, why not get rid of a couple of overpaid, underworked directors or managers.

This would save money, make the company run more smoothly, would not harm the company & would probably increase production.

Most Companies run on the idea of too many chiefs & not enough indians.

ceridwen

torbrex wrote: »

I voted no, in my working life I have been asked to take a pay cut 3 times and each time have voted no but the majority had voted yes.
In all 3 cases it made no difference, the redundancies were only delayed by a couple of months and more went than were originally forecast and we all ended up with smaller wage packets and people who had voted to accept the cut suddenly realised their mistake.

My point precisely.

Management do have a distinct tendency to try and cut the pay that summat or other will be based on - in this case I bet the redundancy payouts were worked on the new (lower) wages, rather than the original wages.

Management have a l...o...n...g list of excuses for cutting pay - and this is just one of them.

ryandj

A selfish response, but it would depend if I was one of the 10%... if it was a choice between a 10% cut or getting the sack, then I would opt for the cut

robin_banks

No, no chance - my outgoings wont be going down by 10% , I would however agree to work additional hours.

Will directors be foregoing an emoluments - chances are they wont be.

The chances are if 10% of jobs are in danger, then even more will be in danger down the line.

Incredible-plod

Take a pay cut to save a job that is at risk and that might not even be yours - No way! I'd take my chances and hope I was alright.

Once you take a pay cut you will never get that money back and you set a precident for the future.

On yer bike I say - Survival of the fittest

Pssst

It depends on the situation. If i worked for a smaller company and i was fully appraised of the situation and the cut was percentage based and all employees took a cut,i might think about it.