Asked to take 15% paycut , your thought please

Bald-Eagle22

Bald-Eagle22

Bald-Eagle22

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Chaps

I have just been asked to take a 15% pay cut at work and needless to say I am not to happy. ( nothing to do with the other thread about contractors )

I have a fairly standard terms and condition on my work contract and have been at my company for 4 years.

Now i am considering the following but need some advice on negotiation ;

1. Take the pay cut and keep stumm , I hope my boss rewards me when things pick up ,maybe when turnover hits a certain figure negotiate a higher salary than I am currently on ?

2. Accept the pay cut and ask for my hours to be cut ?

3. What would happen if I said no , my boss holds me as a key player within the comapny but I feel a slight moral dilema by holding a shotgunn to his head .

4. I take it redundancy could loom , if i say no as well ? I am pretty well covered for my mortgage payments for 12 months but jobs in my industry are very hard to find on my current salary . All i would get is 4*£330 and a months salary , but it would maybe give me a push towards a little retraining and do something that I want to do ?

Your advice would be appreciated
 
Negotiate it down to 7.5% with a guaranteed x% rise after x years? That's probably what I would do
 
Bald-Eagle22 said:
Chaps

I have just been asked to take a 15% pay cut at work and needless to say I am not to happy. ( nothing to do with the other thread about contractors )
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Ciphon said:
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17955459
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I'd try negotiate, If you do play such a vital role in the company. The last thing they will want is you leaving. End of the day most companies will weigh up pros and cons.

They save money by cutting your wage. But if you do leave how much money will they lose.

Negotiate its the way forward. What is the worst that can happen. They say no. Then at least you tried
 
Negotiate, but, unless you really are secure for the next few months I would still look to stay in the role.
 
You mention that you are 'well paid' for the sector that you work in. While thats great during the good times it will put you at or near the top of the list when costcutting happens. I dont think you've much choice but to accept it but as mentioned above you need to negotiate a return to your current salary when the hard times are done.
 
Negotiate to no pay cut.

Unless you are instantly and painlessy replaceable then the effort, time and revenue needed to replace you will be more than a 15% cut of your salary. Unless you're on super money (sorry, skim-read the thread).

Your positives : in place, functioning well, delivering value etc etc

Their negatives : time to recruit, time to train, time to bond/shape to team, cost of time, salary perhaps above market rate to pull potentials, uncertainty/unproven etc etc.

If you're going to do this then you have to be absolutely clear what you're negotiating for. Equally, you need to be able to walk away if your requirement in the negotiation is not met. What I mean is : only negotiate this if you can at the end say, "Ok, but I think I'll leave because what you are offering me is not what I need."

The less productive outcome but maybe easier to do is try to minimise the paycut. Do not do this unless you really have to. It's transparent from the off what you're doing and immediately changes the negotiaion from "I will not accept this" to "Well, I might accept this, let's have a chat."

As a side note, someone above said "try to" negotiate. You don't. You either do, or do not but you have to be convinced of what you're doing before getting in to it.

Best of luck and remember that there is a reason that 15% is important. Try to find out why and use that in your reason why it is unacceptable.

Sorry if I sounded like a self-help book :)
 
15% is pretty significant if the work load is staying the same. I would definitely negotiate, in fact I think they'd expect you to.

Argue for 7.5% - 10% and a reduction in hours accordingly. That's only if you'll walk or be pushed otherwise. As above be objective.
 
z0mbi3 said:
15% is pretty significant if the work load is staying the same. I would definitely negotiate, in fact I think they'd expect you to.

Argue for 7.5% - 10% and a reduction in hours accordingly.
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That's easy to say, hard to acheive. If the OP is a key employee then the decision to ask him to accept a 15% won't have been made lightly as it carries the risk he will leave the company.

Taking 10% less money and doing 10% less work gives the employer no gain and perhaps makes them worse off. Okay, they technically pay out 10% less salary but they will have 10% less of the OP's valuable work to charge some customer for (if it's that type of work like a solicitor etc) or if it is managerial type say, they must need him to the hours the does and pay him the good wage for the successful running of the company so either way the company would lose more than the salary savings.

I think, as already said, find out the reasons why this cut is needed and how long the company might stay in this situation and then negotiate a smaller cut if possible cut with a set trigger for you going back up to your old salary.

As the OP has said, jobs in his industry at his current rate of pay are scarce so they would perhaps bea long list of suitably qualified/skilled candidates prepared to take the op's job for 15% less than he is currently paid in the current climate. In my company we have had 3 speculative financial directors apply in the last month all looking for work pending redundancy which we have never had one apply in the last 15 years.

Ultimately unless the OP is prepared to leave if he doesn't get what he wants, he may well end up in another job which pays 15% less anyway.
 
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[FnG]magnolia;13135162 said:
As a side note, someone above said "try to" negotiate. You don't. You either do, or do not but you have to be convinced of what you're doing before getting in to it.
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Mr Miyagi? Is that you, I thought you'd passed away?

Back on topic I'd go for a negatiation, don't set you sights on no pay cut that is probably unrealistic as I'm sure the company haven't decided to do this for no reason. Personally I would foucus on getting the pay cut down to around 5%, there are going to be an awful lot of people looking for work in the next 12-18 months and personally I would rather take less money and not be one of them.
 
a1ex2001 said:
Mr Miyagi? Is that you, I thought you'd passed away?

Back on topic I'd go for a negatiation, don't set you sights on no pay cut that is probably unrealistic as I'm sure the company haven't decided to do this for no reason. Personally I would foucus on getting the pay cut down to around 5%, there are going to be an awful lot of people looking for work in the next 12-18 months and personally I would rather take less money and not be one of them.
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Hehe, I couldn't remember where I'd picked that up from, thanks :)

I'm on holiday at the moment but work head is still engaged and I wanted to address a couple of your points if that's alright.

I'd definitely not set my sights on no pay cut and that's because -as far as I can tell - the OP does not understand why the company has set this level and therefore doesn't know whatever the reason(s) is or are. This is fundamental. The immediate reaction to a question is, unless already answered, a further question of clarity.

Why 15%? Why not 6 or 2 or 8 or 1 ro 60 or 92? That's not a reason, that's an ill thought through and unsubstantiated number.

If you're happy to work for less money then that's great. Sometimes we have to accept the market rate changes and even accept that we'll take less than the given for a certain time. And yes, most or all of us would do that if the alternative was no job.

My advice to to the OP was to only negotiate if he wants to and is able to for the reasons stated. If he doesn't want to or can't then he shouldn't.
 
If you're monthly wage + the bonus comes to around 5k I'd say you are getting paid quite a lot. Above average in fact, which means that you probably have a role with that requires high responsibility or a required skill.

Therefore go in guns blazing and negotiate them to "do one". As mentioned previously, find out who ELSE is taking a paycut. If it is everyone (including the boss) you know how likely you are to succeed, and if not then it gives you valid points to argue.
 
Hard isn't it. For me I had a pay cut of a similar percentage in July when the company went bust and the boss decided he wanted me for a new venture. For me it is a question of job or no job so I took the work. The idea was to work but obviously look for a new job but I am still here and am now applying for very basic work in an effort to get out.

The last 6 months though have been a nightmare as we have really struggled to get work in and what work we have had is one off very basic repairs rather than the contracts from businesses for maintenance. This is because of people cutting back spending and other places going bust (funnily enough the same reason the company went bust to start with). I was on a low wage at the previous company and the cuts is reall cutting my spending this year. My wages have not gone back up and I'm both unhappy and skint. Merry Christmas (sorry for rant). Work or no work, I'd rather be earning something than be a hand out man.
 
[FnG]magnolia;13135162 said:
Negotiate to no pay cut.

Unless you are instantly and painlessy replaceable then the effort, time and revenue needed to replace you will be more than a 15% cut of your salary. Unless you're on super money (sorry, skim-read the thread).

Your positives : in place, functioning well, delivering value etc etc

Their negatives : time to recruit, time to train, time to bond/shape to team, cost of time, salary perhaps above market rate to pull potentials, uncertainty/unproven etc etc.

If you're going to do this then you have to be absolutely clear what you're negotiating for. Equally, you need to be able to walk away if your requirement in the negotiation is not met. What I mean is : only negotiate this if you can at the end say, "Ok, but I think I'll leave because what you are offering me is not what I need."

The less productive outcome but maybe easier to do is try to minimise the paycut. Do not do this unless you really have to. It's transparent from the off what you're doing and immediately changes the negotiaion from "I will not accept this" to "Well, I might accept this, let's have a chat."

As a side note, someone above said "try to" negotiate. You don't. You either do, or do not but you have to be convinced of what you're doing before getting in to it.

Best of luck and remember that there is a reason that 15% is important. Try to find out why and use that in your reason why it is unacceptable.

Sorry if I sounded like a self-help book :)
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Chaps thanks for all your thoughts some very good replies .

Magnolia , this is the line of thought I was thinking of so no need for an apology.
 
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