Would you do it?

I had a job earlier this year that at the time wasn't paying me enough money. After a few months I quit as I was doing with my recording studio and figured I'd find another side job. Lo and behold a few months later everything turns around! Now I wish I would have kept that job! Things have changed for the worst so much in the past few months I can use anything I can get. Now I don't have a studio or a job. In short if a pay cut is what it takes to keep your company afloat you might as well keep working until something else comes along. Or best case scenario, the economy improves and you still have the same job. You might get a healthy raise!!

With the worsening economy perhaps the question shouldn't be whether or not you wouls accept a pay cut. Maybe the correct question is if some money is better than no money. Unless you are willing to relocate to where the jobs are, aometimes a temporary 2nd job is more advisable.

that really depends on how much the company will cut my pay and for how long... if it is still within reasonable amount and only temporary, i might stick with the company... it is better to have a job than nothing nowadays... in the mean while, of course i will try to find another job as well... take care and have a nice day...

If I really liked my job I'd be willing to take a pay cut.They just recently here did this to a well paying company(union) and the workers went on strike,right before Xmas,for about 6 weeks but in the end were forced to accept lower wages and medical increase.It doesn't seem right but around here there are not that many jobs that pay decent so you may as well stay with the one you got.

Yes, i would take the pay cut as long as it is reasonable and will apply to all employees from top to bottom. I would rather have job security rather than quitting and searching for another job. If ever things become a lot worse than the present then it would be an opportunity to search for a more lucrative job.

I am connected with the automotive industry on the retail side. I work at a Toyota dealership. I would take a pay cut because I like working in the accounting side of the dealership and I like the boss I work for. She works hard and expects all the other managers to work hard, which is not to say that all of them do. But those who don't usually go bye bye within 6 months to a year. I also would expect all paycuts to be for the same percentage.

hello JenInTN, I think even if I need the money if I can save some co-employees to the company in doing that, why not? I'm willing to do that if I can save some friends in the company to stay and still have a job or work. All of us now a days are a survivors of what is really is happening to the economy world wide. We have our own responsibilities to our family and obligations to pay but still need to help one another to survive. It's really hard, but at least I still have my job and that have my steady income though it lowered a bit. Better than nothing at all. I can tighten my belt and sacrifice some expenses anyway. Things that we need to do in times like this.

If it was a matter of working for a bit less money or not working at all, I'd take the lower wage IF it was across the board, meaning everyone from the owner/CEO on down took the same cut.

I'd take the pay cut. In this economy, I'm just happy to have a job!

If I worked in the automotive industry, I would be willing to take a cut to keep my job.. If what I hear is correct, they have very good salaries already and I would be happy to be able to keep my income even if it was a bit smaller.. I bet it would still be more than a lot of us make even with the salary cut.. Jobs are getting very hard to come by now and if you have one, it is best to try and keep it.. If you noticed, the banks didn't do anything like agreeing to a salary cut, if anything, they just spent more, they had more, so they haven't changed their ways at all unless it was to be bigger spenders..

If I liked the company and they had been good to me in the past- yes I would. If they hadn't I would have to weigh things. See if I could find something else and so forth. Not an easy decision.

Hey Jen, Knowing what I know now, yes I's take a pay cut until I could find something that pays more. Or at least ride it out till things the economy gets better. My hubby has been out of work for a year and a half. And believe me, it's because of the economy. You should hear more stories like this one. I think the depression is close at hand. I pray I'm wrong but I'm very realistic. leenie

i think this year too the economic crisis will grow. there is not much every one can do about it. to be safe i think stick with your job even if the salary get down this year as to get a new job will be very difficult.

I think I will choose paycut first, it's really hard to find a good job now, so for steady, I will choose paycut, I really wish the economy will come better, now is a really hard time.

Something rather similar came up where I work a few months ago and the owners let the affected employees (all truck drivers) make the decision. Due to the economy there was not as much work as there had been in the past and the owners knew it would not be possible to give every driver work as had been the case in the past. The questions/options were: ** reduce wages, but that would be difficult due to award agreements ** put some drivers off, i.e. retrench them ** use the B-Doubles as much as possible to reduce costs of having 2 trucks on the road when 1 could do ** reduce the number of trips each driver did a week, i.e. work less hours ** all drivers take some/all of their accrued holidays not previously used. A roster system would be used where a certain number of drivers took holidays and the others continued to work for 4-6 weeks and then those working would go on leave/holidays. If on leave and extra work was available drivers could choose to work and be paid for working that day/days and holiday not uses for that day/days. They also provided a locked box with two padlocks for us to put our ballot paper in. One key was held by the depot manager and the other by someone nominated by the drivers and in our depot, the drivers nominated me. The reason for this was so that nobody could accuse anyone of tampering with the voting and it was also a secret ballot so that nobody would know what anyone else had decided. We continued working as normal and were given a week to decide what we wanted to do and then vote. The vote was overwhelmingly for the last one in most of the depots. Also a large percentage of the drivers opted for using the B-Doubles as well, so they kind of put in 2 votes. Not all drivers are licensed to drive B-Doubles but as is always the case, there are smaller loads which do not require a B-Double licence. The company did offer to pay half the associated costs for any who wanted to upgrade their licence plus allows them to use one of the Company truck when they do the test. It is a good deal for both the company as well as the employees because the company can utilise those drivers in different areas plus the driver himself is more versatile. When we have a load which requires us to drive one of the B-Double trucks we actually earn more money as well, so it works out well for the company as well as the drivers. Still even with all of that on offer, some drivers opted to look for other work and actually resigned which was their choice. Many of us had a lot of accrued leave because when the work was there, we did it rather than take time off. Also in the really busy times there were some who had “banked” extra time which meant they had worked more than normal and so did not get paid for it at the time. That meant they were entitled to take time off with pay and not use their holidays. The amount of tax we would have paid was one of the reasons this was done. I had 8 weeks off in total, which included the Christmas and New Year public holidays. During each and every one of those weeks I worked at least 1 day but more often it was 2 or 3 days and in fact one week I worked for 4 days. I am now back at work once again and will work at least 5 days every week or as near to it as that it doesn’t matter. So far I have been back to back with loads although on Wednesday night I spent the night at home as the load was not due in till the following morning. I have a full B-Double load to deliver to Brisbane by Monday morning and so will probably leave sometime on Saturday if they can unload my truck on Sunday. If they can do that and reload me truck at the depot the same day, then I will be back home on Monday … maybe, depending on turn-around time as well as traffic. It might not be the most desirable thing to work as we are doing now, but at least it is work and money is coming in every fortnight and that is what counts. Every day that I took as holidays I actually got less than what I would have received if I had worked as there is no trip money for those days. So in some ways we have taken a pay cut but at least we still have our jobs and that is important. In actual fact by making the cuts when they did, we will all benefit and that is highlighted by the fact that the company was able to reduce the price for one huge job they submitted a tender for. They actually won that new contract which will keep 4 trucks bust for 5 days a week for 6 months starting next month. Will it get better? I have no idea at all but right now it does look promising for us. Would I do the same again and take holidays or reduced hours? Yes I would because at least I would have a job which is better than nothing as far as I am concerned. Any pay that I get is better than nothing and if my wages are less than I am used to, we always have the option of reducing our spending. Right now I am waiting for my truck to be unloaded and reloaded so am at one of the depots which is why I can get on the internet now. When I am loaded I will be heading back to my home depot to unhitch these trailers and the loaded ones for the Brisbane triop hooked up. Then I will be taking the truck to my place so I can leave from there when it suits me on Saturday (tomorrow for me) AFTER I have had a 24 hour break. Basically we all have to make the decision on what is best for us. If we refuse to take a pay cut, then there is the possibility that the business will have to close because they simply cannot keep it open. That means we will not have any income coming in and would have to rely on government benefits but not every country has such a system in place. It potentially could mean that we are unemployed for a long period of time because there would be a large number of applicants for each job. I am pleased that my depot voted as they did. Although I doubt I would have been one of those retrenched because of my experience as well as the types of trucks I can drive and the goods I can carry, it is a much better place to work. By no means is the company perfect but they do the right thing by the drivers and that is important.

Hi dear sure its tough year ahead and u have to be very focused and determined in it Well, many unwanted decesions have to be taken to survive, as survival in year 2009 is more important in current situation, if needed for some temporsary basis ( for few month or a year) then i can do it, u r right steady job and steady income is more important Take care

it is not that easy to find a new job for as you said companies are closing doors. i would rather get a paycut than to resign and dont know where i am going. it would really affect so much if i will lose a job just because i dont like to have a paycut. so for the mean time i will take that sacrifice and just leave that if i found or there is much better job that i can go to.

i think if you have a job nowadays u better keep it no matter what it takes. before i took a cut thi i'd want to be sure everyone was taking it especially the higher ups. they shouldn't expect the employess to take a cut & them not.

To be honest, with what's happening right now? I would say yes to a wage cut, rather than lose my job totally. The industry I work in is pretty transparent and is very much affected by this economic downturn. It's not like I have an option to jump ship to a different company since most of them have these so called "belt tightening" scheme in place. So yeah I'd gladly take a pay cut, besides If I did not accept it, either I lose my job or a co league of mine losses his/her's. Either way it's bad, but I'll go for the lesser evil.

I'd take the pay cut to keep my employment while I looked for another job with a more stable company that could pay better.