Would you work for free to help your company?

[MrMoney]

In the light of British Airways order...i mean voluntary request to staff to work for free and what happened with a couple of car companies earlier this year, your voting opinions would be great...

[fatcat]

I wouldn't volunteer to work for free. British Airways should have been handling their finances far better, instead of using dubious tactics over the years to get one up on their rivals getting caught out and having to pay hefty fines.

Will the directors be first in line to volunteer? I doubt it.

I have a feeling they won't get many takers or any takers at all.

[jingles]

Its one thing for Walsh to say that he'll work for free when he earns hundreds of thousands, but it's a different matter for the workers who rely upon their monthly salary in order to pay bills and mortgages. Will the banks also suspend the need to pay bills during this period? I think not.

[MrMoney]

I was talking about the general principle rather than BA in particular. There are quite a few companies that have done something along these lines but because they are not high profile it slips under the media net.
Personally if it is neccessary to secure my medium term job security rather than some fake underhand cost cutting ruse, i would be all for it. Comparing executive pay with shop floor is not the right way to look at it...even though they could afford a bit more, but bear in mind the higher up you are the bigger your normal expenses as well.
private school fees for kids, huge mortgages or rent, more expensive cars etc.

What is a more common thing is for companies to ask staff to take a 20% pay cut to continue working there....while people are in uproar about BA think about it. Working for 20% less over 5months is exactly the same as working one month free in 5 months.
You actually get more money on the free deal in the medium term because all things being equal it ends there, while with permanent 20% pay cut you keep leaking money until the recession ends!!
See beyond the headlines.

[CreditCruncher]

It has just been announced today by the BBC that 7000 British airways staff have agreed to take a voluntary pay cut and 800 have agreed to work for free for one month. This number is expected to rise.
They probably now realise the the severity of the situation and are acting accordingly....better than being pigheaded or getting unions involved and losing jobs altogether.

Maybe Corus should have taken that step years ago...they are bleeding jobs like there is no tomorrow.

I am all in favour of such a measure.

[GettingTight]

I'm not sure but I think that yes I would. If I had holiday pay that I could cash in especially, but I'm not sure they were allowed to do that.

Either way I'd rather take a pay cut than lose my job completely. Its been hard the last few months being out of work and I wish we had been given that choice.

[CreditCruncher]

BT have announced that they want workers to take a year off and they will still pay them 25% of their annual salary.
A slight twist on the working for free...but just shows how deep and severe this problem is becoming as all these giants of our economy are falling.

According to BBC reports many BT workers seem favourable to this idea.
If ever there was a recession proof company..it was BT

[fatcat]

I was talking about the general principle rather than BA in particular. There are quite a few companies that have done something along these lines but because they are not high profile it slips under the media net.
Personally if it is neccessary to secure my medium term job security rather than some fake underhand cost cutting ruse, i would be all for it. Comparing executive pay with shop floor is not the right way to look at it...even though they could afford a bit more, but bear in mind the higher up you are the bigger your normal expenses as well.
private school fees for kids, huge mortgages or rent, more expensive cars etc.

What is a more common thing is for companies to ask staff to take a 20% pay cut to continue working there....while people are in uproar about BA think about it. Working for 20% less over 5months is exactly the same as working one month free in 5 months.
You actually get more money on the free deal in the medium term because all things being equal it ends there, while with permanent 20% pay cut you keep leaking money until the recession ends!!
See beyond the headlines.

Is there some law stating that directors have to have big flashy cars? Send the kids to private school etc?

If I were in that position, sure I'd have a new car, but it wouldn't be a flash car that would cost a fortune to run, if I had kids they would go to a state run school. You don't have to spend big money just because you're in a management position.

[GettingTight]

I don't have an issue with the private schools but the cars, I do. I wonder how in the world anyone could afford to take a year off at a quarter of the pay. You couldn't live on that!

[fatcat]

Most directors of big corporations are on £100k + a year, if they did that with quarter pay, I'm sure they wouldn't struggle that much, look how much they'd save in tax as well, still must be hard being a director.