Many City workers unprepared to cut hours to stop colleagues’ redundancies

Just over half of all City of London workers would be prepared to cut their hours and subsequently their pay, in order to prevent a colleague from losing their job.

That is according to a survey conducted by GRS, which suggested that if a company was forced to impose such a decision on their employees and only 52 per cent agreed to cut their hours, it may not be enough to prevent redundancies.

Lucinda Brown, managing director at GRS UK, explained that as the recession takes hold, the reality of a reduced working week and pay cuts are spreading "from the factory floor to the heart of the City".

She said: "If only 52 per cent of a company’s workforce is willing to back a scheme like this, savings may be too limited to make it a viable alternative to mass redundancies, especially when the threat of a divided company (between those that opt-in and those that refuse to) is taken into account."

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The Financial Times is just of many companies which has asked its staff to volunteer to work either a three or four-day week, the Times reported.