Would you take a pay cut to save a coworker's job?

by Naomi Nakashima

Created on: August 05, 2010   Last Updated: March 18, 2011

Would I take a pay cut to save a coworker's job?

A question such as this is one that would need to be reconsidered on a case by case basis. Certain questions would need to be answered such as how are my own finances at the time? How many people other than myself are relying on those finances? Is that coworker even happy at this job? Would it hurt the company to lose this person? Do I care enough about the company to actually care if they do get hurt by losing this person? Overall, am I happy with the decision making process of the company?

A lot of other questions would need to be answered. But in general, given a blanket question such as whether I would sacrifice my job and income for the sake of someone else - I would have to say no.

I know the altruistic, trendy thing to do would be to answer this question with a resounding yes and be hailed a hero. But the truth is, I'm much more selfish than that. I'm not so selfish that I'm cold-hearted; but I am selfish enough to say "my bills come before your bills." And the type of pay cut that would be required for this scenario is in the tens of thousands of dollars a year to be a viable savings to the company.

$10,000 a year... If I cut my annual salary now by $10,000 a year, I'd be below poverty level. If most people cut their salary by $10,000 a year, they would be financially hurting. Is it really worth being a step above poverty just so someone can hail me as a hero? No thank you. I'd rather pay my rent and be called selfish. Especially not when I've worked as hard as I have just to get the measly salary I do have.

Another reason I would say no is what a wretched feeling to give to that coworker! I can just imagine finding out that one of my coworkers lost $10,000 a year to save my job - I would feel just horrible. I would feel lower than scum that my coworker - who had to work just as hard if not harder  - could no longer do the things he or she had been saving up and planning for because he or she felt the need to save my job. 

Besides which, I would feel like a complete failure if the only reason I still had a job wasn't because I was good at it - but rather because someone else was willing to be paid less money. I would hate that feeling - and I wouldn't want to be the cause of someone else having that feeling.

Of course, there are exceptions to this. In some cases, I might even be willing to leave that job if it would save a coworker. But all in all, the surrounding circumstances would have to be profound to make me want to sacrifice my source of income and my standard of living for the sake of a coworker's job.

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