Employees would accept changes to reward to prevent job losses

Employees in the business and financial services industries, as well as those working in HR and recruitment are prepared to be flexible with reward and benefits to stem job losses in their organisation.

Some 95% of the 2,500 employees surveyed by the independent campaign Keep Britain Working, would change their work conditions if it helped others keep their jobs.

Half of all workers would accept short-time working arrangements, 29% would accept a pay cut without reducing hours, 31% would sacrifice or lose benefits, 6% would accept a three-month long unpaid sabbatical and 19% accept a sabbatical on 30% pay. A further three out of five employees would take on extra responsibilities, while 48% would change their role entirely if it kept their colleagues in work.

However to retain support, any measures taken by employers would need to be perceived as fair by staff. for example, if bosses asked staff to make sacrifices without making any themselves, 49% of employees would challenge their manager, while more than one in ten would take more direct action. A small minority of workers(3%) would go slow at work, 4% would walk off the job or seek redundancy, and a further 3% would consider strike action.

When broken down by sector 97% of workers in financial services roles would accept changes in their working conditions to help colleagues keep their jobs with 30% prepared to accept a cut in pay, 50% would accept a reduction in hours.

Some 95% of employees working in HR and recruitment would accept changes in their working conditions to prevent job losses, while 30% would accept a cut in pay, compared to 38% of workers in the business services sector. But employees in HR and recruitment and business services are more are 3% more likely to accept a reduction in hours than those in the financial services sector.

Staff in HR and recruitment are also more likely to walk out without another job to go to if they thought any changes to reward and benefits were unfair. While workers in the business and financial services sectors are more likely to strike if they felt managers were not sharing the pain.