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Ask HN: Should I sign a pay cut agreement?

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Re: Ask HN: Should I sign a pay cut agreement?

#21

Post by OJFord »

mikebos wrote: post #9

Forget about the company, this boils down to choices. Can you get another job relatively easy within a month, or for as long as you can finance your unemployment? If the answer is no, you need the job and most likely should take the pay cut. Whatever your choice will be, it's time to start looking for a new job. The behavior you describe in your employer sounds to me like they don't put value in employees.

> Whatever your choice will be, it's time to start looking for a new job. The behavior you describe in your employer sounds to me like they don't put value in employees.

Well even that aside, when your employer has known money issues, especially to the extent that they're struggling to pay staff, ... Hopefully OP won't need it, but I wouldn't wait for the company to go belly up to start looking personally.

Re: Ask HN: Should I sign a pay cut agreement?

#22

Post by folivore »

necovek wrote: post #8
throwawaysalome wrote: post #4

"We're hoping that everyone pulls together" is just a polite way of saying "My way or the highway". At-will employment works the same everywhere.

It sounds more like they hope they won't have to fire more people (probably so they can still achieve their goals), but not agreeing to it ensures there is government support for an employee in case of a layoff (guaranteed severance, unemployment benefits, pension fund contributions etc). Depending on the market and your personal circumstances, you just need to put ~3 outcomes on paper and decide what's best for your…

This is the case. There is a safety net with refusing to sign so it's a choice between betting on the company or winging it and hope they keep to their end of the law. If they fire me for not agreeing there is a body that handles such cases, since that's effectively unfair dismissal and you get paid out N months too.

Re: Ask HN: Should I sign a pay cut agreement?

#23

Post by ergonaught »

andrewfromx wrote: post #2

In the US they don't do this. The thinking is someone getting a lower salary and the same job will not be very motivated. It's better to just get them go and keep other employees at their same level or higher.

I have definitely experienced this within the USA.

Re: Ask HN: Should I sign a pay cut agreement?

#24

Post by jollyllama »

andrewfromx wrote: post #2

In the US they don't do this. The thinking is someone getting a lower salary and the same job will not be very motivated. It's better to just get them go and keep other employees at their same level or higher.

Kinda-sorta. We took temporary pay cuts at the start of the pandemic. One dev left, we got the PPP loans, and then full salaries were restored - that all happened in a couple of months. Then about half a year later, our whole team was offshored.

Re: Ask HN: Should I sign a pay cut agreement?

#26

Post by awault »

Not a place you want to invest your time at. Look for other opportunities m. Not sure if the local regs, but maybe they are just looking for a way to cut costs on the next round of layoffs. Typically unemployment comp is based off prior comp levels.

Re: Ask HN: Should I sign a pay cut agreement?

#27

Post by ilyt »

izacus wrote: post #20
scary-size wrote: post #18

> They chose to cut salaries rather than cut the office rent and catered lunch/snack expenses Real-estate is surprisingly hard to get rid of. Depending on the size they might be stuck with a multi-year lease. Cutting snacks and lunch doesn't substantially change the equation. That said, I'd start looking for another job. Layoffs AND a paycut for those that remain doesn't fit well. Might as well layoff more people and…

Real estate is also really cheap in comparison to actually paying people, especially in some areas with long-term deals.

Well, depends, if now more than half of your company isn't in office after COVID and move to WFH I can see it being a pretty big part

Re: Ask HN: Should I sign a pay cut agreement?

#29

Post by folivore »

scary-size wrote: post #18

> They chose to cut salaries rather than cut the office rent and catered lunch/snack expenses Real-estate is surprisingly hard to get rid of. Depending on the size they might be stuck with a multi-year lease. Cutting snacks and lunch doesn't substantially change the equation. That said, I'd start looking for another job. Layoffs AND a paycut for those that remain doesn't fit well. Might as well layoff more people and…

People here earn enough for the food to not be on their radar. I guess the office/food is symbolic, though I do understand real estate is hard to get rid of. They could rather have taken on the debt and kept good people (pure speculation, I have no idea).

It's hard to Guage overall morale since we're split into segregated teams per project so there isn't much intersection outside of the dead Slack server.

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