If your employer asked you to sign up for "unpaid work" would you be tempted? WIllie Walsh, the chief executive at British Airways has urged his staff to do just that (on the Guardian website). To be fair, he has himself offered to work during July without pay, but - as unions are keen to point out - the £61,000 he loses on one month's work is worth more than twice the annual salary of cabin crew employees at the airline.
BA has just announced a record pre-tax loss of £401 million, so it is clearly in desperate straits, calling for desperate measures, but I can't help wondering whether Mr Walsh could have put together a more palatable offer.
The IRS redundancy survey (subscription required) found that employers are on average using three or more measures to minimise compulsory redundancies, and these can include pay cuts, pay freezes, reduced overtime and short-time working. As reported in European Employment Review, (subscription required) some French companies have negotiated some creative agreements with unions, although these employers do have the benefit of a state-backed scheme for short-time working.
XpertHR has published a useful guide (subscription required) to help employers who are considering alternatives to redundancy in an economic downturn.
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