20% pay cut

[Coronacorona]

I work for a smallish firm - around 250 staff - and we’ve all been asked to take a ‘voluntary’ pay cut of 20%.

Is anyone else in the same boat? We’ve been told lots of firms are asking the same .. but I don’t know anyone personally. Obviously lots of businesses are struggling at the mo’, and I realise we’re lucky to have jobs at all, but still..

It’s not a temporary cut - we’ve been told it’s permanent. It could take years to climb back up the pay scale

My husband’s company is doing this, though the plan is it will be temporary. It’s that or make redundancies.

What happens if you say no?

Can they not furlough you with government help?

Dh and I have both been furloughed so we have essentially a 20%pay cut for the foreseeable, I thought I would love not going to work but I don’t, I’m bored, I’m just not an indoors sitting on your bum kinda person!

Are they offering to reduce your working hours by 20% as well?

Some people have been furloughed, yes. Personally, I’d rather not be as I’d earn less and I can’t really afford to - single parent with a biggish mortgage.

I get the fact we all have to pitch in and help - but the cynic in me thinks it’s just a way to claw back some cash reserves (it’s a law firm) and possibly pay for the main boss’s exit next year. The fact it’s permanent is surely not right either. If it was 3 or 6 months, maybe fair enough but I can’t see how I’d ever get my old salary back.

It all feels really shit.

We’ve been told it’s a universal yes or no vote - everyone needs to buy into it otherwise there’ll be compulsory redundancies.

Not everyone is going to say yes so it will be residencies

My friends sister has to take a 50% cut or loose her job....guess which she took?

We've been asked to take 20% cut For 3 months with it being reviewed monthly. We've been assured of business is able to pick up it will end earlier and warned that if this drags on it may need to be extended.

I'd rather take a cut than be furloughed as feel it would be too easy to then see me as redundant if I was furloughed and make that a reality.

I'm going to be doing as much as possible to make myself irreplaceable and essential to the company over the coming weeks.

It’s important to point out that the furlough offer is currently only for 3 months (though the government have said they’ll extend it if necessary but it presumably can’t go on forever). And whilst it’s very helpful, businesses have more than just staff costs to pay. I obviously can’t speak for your workplace and their motivations but most places are just trying to find a way to survive, keep people on and still have a business at the end of it. The permanent thing doesn’t sound right though.

Asking for people to take the pay cut temporarily isnt unreasonable with the current situation but saying its permanent seems totally unfair.

We’ve got pay cuts too. Ours are only temporary, 3 months to start then assessed monthly to the end of the year. Then they will revert.

My boss said (to me privately) that if anyone didn’t agree, then it could be a career limiting decision.

It sucks for us all, but we are all in it together so need to do our bit. I’ve got an enormous mortgage thanks to a recent reno, so the timing isn’t great. We’ll make it work though as I’d rather have a slightly lower paying job than no job.

My dhs firm asked everyone to take 8% pay cuts and then a week later told everyone that they’d be furloughed, so then 20% cuts. At the moment we are just grateful he still has a job, but very unsure about how long this will go on for, like everyone else really. It’s horrible.

Yes we've been asked the same, but for 3 months, then reviewed. I prefer this to furlough as I earn quite a bit above the cap and am a lone parent

A relative has said that an email has gone around her workplace about staff pay and restructuring.

It has not happened at my work place but a few of us have been furloughed. My bosses are topping it up to 100% of my pay though.

I would not be happy with a permanent pay cut, and I think that's not on. 20% is a big cut!

What's the alternative if you don't accept the cut?

Everyone being asked to take 20% really needs to be careful, it sounds to me like they are claiming the 80% furlough money from the government without telling you all and still expecting you to work which is not allowed whilst claiming the furlough money. It can't be a coincidence that most of you have been asked to drop 20%?

Watch out for what happens if you subsequently get made redundant. Having BTDTGTTS ...

Back in a previous crash (notice I can't say "the last crash" ... the fact we keep having them suggests that the system is well fucked. But that's for another thread) the firm I worked for did the same - called for a 20% pay cut for 3 months. Some volunteered, some didn't. However those that did never saw the lost wages when (inevitably) they were made redundant.

(I didn't volunteer, so was 20%x3 months salary up on them when I was made redundant ....)

In 2010/2011 lots of local government/LA staff took paycuts/had to take unpaid leave of xx days a year and had pay freezes for many years.

Its life in times of recession.

Its life in times of recession.

Not for shareholders and directors.

yes, I don't see why anyone in the public sector should have to accept a pay decrease tbh
We have not seen pay rises for over ten years and are now being expected to step up and risk our own and our family's lives to help out in this crisis.
When tax loopholes for global companies are closed, when dividend and fat cat salaries and bonuses are curbed, then come to me with a request for a pay decrease.