To pay or not to pay?
I’ve always seen the end of financial year as traditionally being a time for pay rises, bonuses and added incentives but this year I’m seeing a whole new ball game. It’s no longer as simple as handing out pay rises – businesses are facing a new set of challenges, with many fighting to maintain profitable and generate positive cash flow, in an effort to avoid laying off staff, salaries are being put on ice.
I hear news of some of Australia’s leading companies freezing and downsizing salaries, changing existing pay arrangements and reassessing budgets and cutting back on a range of employee benefits. Personally, I think this is a responsible strategy as it potentially protects employees from redundancy.
Those employees who have their hand out expecting a salary increase this year should lower their expectations and consider the greater good of the organization. Chances are most employees are already on a good wicket, due to the inflated salaries of the past 4 years. Now is not the time, to be making unrealistic demands on your employer if the company has been in any way effected by the downturn (and lets face it few haven’t).
There is a lot of talk in the business media about employers needing to restructure their companies responsibly to avoid laying off staff, but I also think that there needs to be some emphasis placed on ‘responsible employees’. Employees can help by lowering their salary expectations, being prepared to take a cut now and to work harder and smarter to help their employer survive these tough times.
2009 is not the time for employees to have their hand out or be building a case for a pay raise or promotion. I believe it is time for employees to give back a little to their employer, to play their part in cost savings wherever possible and this includes lowering salary expectations and being grateful to have a good job.
Do you think your employees expect a salary increase in 2009?
If the job hasn’t changed, employees should not expect a pay increase. However, with redundancies occurring and the survivors picking up the extra work, there needs to be some sort of reward for those employees working harder to feel that surviving the cut was actually a good thing! A holiday perhaps? Some flex time?
Thanks for your comments Adeline. Keeping your job is a good reward in itself but I agree that the survivors may pick up additional duties if their business trade is still up. If that is the case, then employers should look to redesign job descriptions to scale back duties so that the survivors do not inherit two jobs as a result of the change. Some time off in lieu (TOIL) is a great cost effective way for employers to reward hard working staff.
Recently, after several comments to a staff of 3 in regard to being overstaffed and over the budget, my employer employed her girlfriend on the same wage as mine being the highest paid out of the 3 members of staff which now made a total of 4 employees. After one month we were all called to a meeting to be told once again that we were overstaffed and that the company could not afford to give an increase to the two girls on the lower wage so the decision by management was to cut my pay by $3/hour to give a $4/hour increase to the others.
Can this be done.
Interesting question Samantha. Legally he may be able to do this, it would depend upon the legislation and Award you are paid under. However, morally and ethically perhaps he has made a poor decision. You could seek further advice in relation to this from your State Industrial Relations Department or try raising your concerns directly with your employer first to see if a solution can be agreed to.