Yes

7 of 13

by Adelani Aderemi

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I have taken a 'No Pay' before so why can't I take a pay cut? Way back in 1989, I was an Analyst/Programmer in a Company producing application packages and we were based in Lagos, Nigeria. Time was really tough and the company already owed staff salaries. The CEO and founder of the company analyzed the situation and came with the conviction that the clients we had were small timers and yet the trouble they put us to was much. Since we were just a phone call away they called for bug fixing at every slight excuse even when they still owed for their application software. So he decided to change strategy. He announced that we were going to cut off from those small businesses and pursued the big corporations.

He also warned us that time would become tougher for a while and if we got it right we would all enjoy the sacrifice later. He gave us time to think about it, but it was going to be taking it and stay, or reject it and leave. Some people left as the conditions were tough enough as it were. I stayed, because I was really convinced that his analysis were correct.

So we went back to the drawing board. We designed very many software solutions including Human Resources Package, Fleet Management, Warehouse Management, Real Estate, Hospital Front-Office, Hotel Front-Office, Time Management and Utilities Management to mention a few. As our minds scanned every possible hole in the market place, we designed software applications to plug them. We did this with minimal body support since the company had stopped paying salaries to senior staff. Only the clerical staffs were being paid then for the vision of the company was not quite visible to their level. When we got our products ready, we launched aggressive campaigns using banners, posters, and the electronic media. We wrote letters to virtually every big corporation in Nigeria. We also designed and published a quarterly newsletter titled The FIRSTNEWS to showcase our software packages and associated services.

This strategy worked out and we got quite a number of good projects that fetched the company real big money. If staff sacrifices wee compensated for would be issue for another article. But the point I want to make here is that if one, who is not a director of business nor a share holder in any form, could take a 'no pay' for an ailing company to be nursed back to good health, how much more would one extend compassion to a co-worker to enable them to retain their source of livelihood?

May I suggest two reasons here that may bring about the consideration of whether one would accept a pay cut for a co-worker to retain his job:

Team work

If I was in a team and the measured performance per period is lower than target. Between exposing one member of the team who pulled the whole team down and accepting a pay cut as penalty, I would opt for the pay cut. The reasons for this are; one, that member who did not perform well could always improve with proper training, appropriate tools, counseling, encouragement and availability of conducive environment; two, I think sacking a staff should be the last resort and should be done only if all other options have been exhausted. I have been unemployed before and I know how it pains.

Serious Cash Crunch

The company may be facing a cash crunch similar to the case I in the beginning of this article. Quick solutions management always is ready to take to cut down expenses are either to reduce staff or reduce salary or both. Knowing the level of unemployment out there and the consequences of unemployment on the security of life and property, I would rather we all still hold our jobs while remunerations are dressed down moderately. If management takes a good study of the emolument structure, there are very creative ways of cutting down staff emoluments that would still appear reasonable to majority of the staff. If it is transparently done and such that the resultant pay structure is based on each workers output, there would be less opposition.

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