Would you take a pay cut to save your bank?

28 October 2008

1 minute read

Would you take a pay cut to save your bank?

What's worse for your career (and your ego) - being thrown on the redundancy scrapheap, or having your salary slashed by a quarter?

That was the dilemma faced by CLSA staff who were told to take a massive pay cut or risk taking a hike.

The firm's top-500 employees were asked to say whether they'd accept a 15%, 20%, or 25% reduction for next year.

Which one of these lovely options sounds the most appealing to you? For CLSA, the first cut is the deepest: they chose the full 25% to keep their dear firm alive.

And Jonathan Slone, chief executive of CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets, thinks losing all this money will keep his workers happy. "This scheme is a great way to create an internal bond among staff and get them moving in the same direction." (Financial Times)

Would you give your pay away like a good CLSA employee? Get generous below.

AUTHOReFinancialCareers Singapore

Insider Comment

7 comments

Ja
Jalia
1 June 2011
Never seen a bteetr post! ICOCBW
Reply
MK
MK
29 October 2008
those kinds of pay cuts means different things for people in different positions. for one guy it means a a lttle less Saks and a little more sears. but for the other guy it means serious problems with paying for bills and college fund for the kids, it's more then just a slight adjustment in lfiestyle but it has serious implications on day to day life. some senior executives could offer to give up more and not pretend they're jsut as hard hit as junior employees
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An
Anonymous
29 October 2008
those kinds of pay cuts means different things for people in different positions. for one guy it means a a lttle less Saks and a little more sears. but for the other guy it means serious problems with paying for bills and college fund for the kids, it's more then just a slight adjustment in lfiestyle but it has serious implications on day to day life. some senior executives could offer to give up more and not pretend they're jsut as hard hit as junior employees
Reply
Ri
Richard
29 October 2008
It's a great way to avoid potential legal issues with employment contracts by making it a "voluntary" reduction. Of course, if you don't take it's obvious your name will be top of the lits when the cuts do come..and then it can be further justified by the fsct that you are too expensive ('coz all your colleagues took a haircut on their pay!)
Reply
Lo
Loyal Not Lunatic
29 October 2008
Perhaps senior management/directors, who got them into this mess, should work for a nominal $1 until they get out of it. That's a boss I would work for, not one that tells me it my fault and I should pay for their incompetency
Reply