More than half of UK employees have had their pay cut, hours reduced or benefits slashed as a result of the recession, research has revealed.
A survey by campaign group Keep Britain Working found that 54% of the 1,600 workers polled had seen their pay, hours or benefits cut in the past nine months. More than one quarter (27%) said they had seen their wages cut, while 24% reported a reduction in working time and benefits.
Barely 17% of the 80 HR and recruiting professionals surveyed said they had seen their hours reduced, but 27% admitted to losing some kind of benefit – which could include pay cuts – in recent months.
James Reed, chairman of recruitment consultancy Reed and founder of the Keep Britain Working campaign, said: “The UK workforce has demonstrated unprecedented flexibility during this recession, allowing organisations to explore a whole range of cost-cutting responses other than relying solely on redundancies.
“Overall, workers appear to be making common cause with their managers to help keep people working.”
Last week, Honda workers agreed to a temporary pay cut in a bid to save jobs.
