Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Business performanceEconomics, government & businessHR strategyPay & benefitsLeave

Unpaid leave – the fight for survival: can employees afford to do it?

by Personnel Today 25 Feb 2010
by Personnel Today 25 Feb 2010

National recruitment and business services group, HR GO plc, asked just this question via a web survey in which almost 670 took part. 61% revealed they would not take a month’s unpaid leave if their company asked them to do so.

In the tough times of 2009 where companies embarked on major pay cutbacks and large scale redundancies, many businesses were throwing out a lifeline to their employees in a bid to prevent job losses.

“Unpaid leave” was a cost-cutting strategy that many businesses implemented in an attempt to get them through the tough times. Employers appealed to their staff to volunteer for even just one day per month unpaid leave to help them survive and reduce the amount of redundancies they may be forced to make.

British Airways (BA) did this in June last year where they sent out a communication to 30,000 workers asking them to volunteer for one week to one month’s unpaid leave. Leading by example, the BA Chief Executive forfeited his July monthly salary of £61,000! This scheme attracted over 1,000 applications but could the employees afford to do it?

“While some options may seem unattractive, particularly where they involve reduced income, many employees will conclude that the alternative of losing their job looks bleaker,” said Mike Emmott of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) in 2009.

However, we are seeing encouraging signs for a more optimistic economic climate in the job market in 2010.  COA Solutions, a UK business management and information systems provider, revealed that 51% of senior human resource (HR) professionals surveyed do intend to increase the overall size of their workforces by the end of 2010.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Recruitment Group, HR GO plc, has seen a 13% increase in temporary placements in the last quarter of 2009 against the same period in 2008.

HR GO plc is one of the top 65 recruitment companies in the UK. The business turns over around £70 million and employs 360 permanent staff and over 4000 contract personnel nationally.

Personnel Today

Personnel Today articles are written by an expert team of award-winning journalists who have been covering HR and L&D for many years. Some of our content is attributed to "Personnel Today" for a number of reasons, including: when numerous authors are associated with writing or editing a piece; or when the author is unknown (particularly for older articles).

previous post
Sector focus: online gaming industry
next post
State pension age hike should be faster and higher says PricewaterhouseCoopers report

You may also like

Unions ponder strike action after public sector pay...

23 May 2025

Public sector workers gain pay rises of up...

22 May 2025

UK net migration slashed by half in one...

22 May 2025

Deloitte scales back salary rises and promotions

22 May 2025

Pay awards in real terms could fall for...

21 May 2025

Ryanair demands flight attendants pay back salary increase

21 May 2025

Minister defends Employment Rights Bill at Acas conference

16 May 2025

Next to improve wage-setting transparency after shareholder pressure

16 May 2025

CBI chair Soames accuses ministers of not listening...

16 May 2025

NHS Scotland staff accept two-year 8.2% pay deal

16 May 2025

  • 2025 Employee Communications Report PROMOTED | HR and leadership...Read more
  • The Majority of Employees Have Their Eyes on Their Next Move PROMOTED | A staggering 65%...Read more
  • Prioritising performance management: Strategies for success (webinar) WEBINAR | In today’s fast-paced...Read more
  • Self-Leadership: The Key to Successful Organisations PROMOTED | Eletive is helping businesses...Read more
  • Retaining Female Talent: Four Ways to Reduce Workplace Drop Out PROMOTED | International Women’s Day...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+