"Industry Standard" Paycuts in IT?

noGarnishMe! asks: "I was just reading about a Chicago-based company that has told all its employees earning over $60K/year that they will have to accept a 50% percent paycut for the month of May. This cut might be necessary in these times but keep in mind that the bozos in senior management just finished buying up several failing companies and paying some large bonuses to themselves. The memo announcing the cut is here. This cut, coming in such large chunk and in May, seems like a draconian shot to boost the 2d quarter financials. True, the annual paycut of 3.8% is modest but it ignores that fact that many folks won't be able to pay their May bills with only half their salary. I know that many of us have been through rough times these past 18 months and so I ask, what has been the approach at your company?" There are graceful and non-graceful ways for a company to handle a lack of cash flow. In the scramble for survival, especially in an economic downturn, many companies are caught off-guard and have to show their shareholders that they are doing something to get the company back on the road to profitability (which seems to be the issue, here). In many of these cases, the group most affected by such changes are the employees. It would be interesting to note how many of you have gone through this before and what you had to do to survive the shortfall.

Comments

hmmmm

[GnomeKing]

I'm glad I only earn $59K/year!

Re:hmmmm

[mark_lybarger]

yes, it does mean they're idiots. The common definition of idiot here defines it as:

1. A foolish or stupid person.
2. A person of profound mental retardation having a mental age below three years and generally being unable to learn connected speech or guard against common dangers. The term belongs to a classification system no longer in use and is now considered offensive.

i'de say completely blowing your middle income salary because: 1) you don't know how to manage money, 2) can't fathom planning for the future, and 3) maybe believe that this awesome internet/technology boom is going to last 4-ever certainly qualifies for the first definition. the second definition is questionable.

Re:hmmmm

[NanoGator]

I'm no Webster or anybody, but my definition of idiot includes the term 'over-simplification to make a point.'

Or maybe that's ass. Damn, I should start writing these things down.

Heh!

[Wakko Warner]

I worked for those fuckers. I took the special "4 week" plan back in January... man, am I glad I left that job. Apparently our department is having trouble getting approval to buy RAM.

- A.P.

This message is confidential(1)

[apachetoolbox]

1: Or not, whatever.

spewing resumes

[Omegalomaniac]

Sure, they are saving money on wages, but think how much their paper and toner costs are going to go up with all the resumes being printed.

No Pay...

[Darth RadaR]

No Backups.

:)

Re:No Pay...

[glwtta]

1/2 pay - backups, but no restores.

Cut the dead weight!

[multipartmixed]

You can usually cut dead weight at a company pretty easily by organizing them in alphabetical order by title, and going down the list firing people until you have enough money to pay everybody else.

Chief comes before Programmer, Executive comes before Technical...

Instead of paycuts....

[hndrcks]

Maybe they should Roll Their Own Business Desktops as a cost saving exercise. Makes about the same amount of sense.

grace

[tps12]

There are graceful and non-graceful ways for a company to handle a lack of cash flow.

Which category does "subscriptions" fall under?

Have some fun!

[lww]

I'm assuming you need to stay at this job for any number of reasons (economic, depressed job market, health insurance, etc). So have some fun with it (while you're getting your act together to bail - you'll never be caught in a no-win situation like this again, right?)

Suggestion #1: Conveniently forget 50% of everything you know. Hey, they're only paying for half of you now, right? "How does this compiler work again?, Err I remember my username, what's my password?"

Suggestion #2: Pick half of your body (top/bottom/left/right). That side no longer needs to conform to the company dress code since they aren't paying for that half. "Say umm...that's an...interesting...spot for a piercing, Fred"

Suggestion #3: Leave a note for the CFO telling him how you're cousin Guido can help his cash flow problems - you're in Chicago, right? ;)

Re:Corporate bastards!

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Easy workaround

[GungaDan]

Take 4 hour lunches throughout May.

And if you can find any executives who got bonuses, flog 'em mercilessly until you feel like you've gotten half your salary's worth.

THE CYCLE OF STUPIDITY

[Karl Cocknozzle]

1. We need to trim the budget. Let's fire some people.
2. One of the people we're going to fire is a broke single-mom. Oh well, not our problem.
3. Cut staff.
4. Hmm, people are quitting and citing "overwork, lack of stability, and lack of loyalty to veterans and moms" as reasons.
5. We'll have to hire some more people to replace them... We wanted to keep these people...
6. Gee, good people from outside sure cost tons more than we were paying our laid off veterans.
7. We're over budget again, have to fire some people...

And the cycle goes on and on...