Furlough and Return Salary

Question

Since March many employees have been furloughed, myself included. What is your experience/opinion on the proper approach to salary negotiations? Your employer is saying that they lost a lot of money over the past few months and they need to cut salaries (for some roles up to 50%) for an undetermined amount of time  - could be 3 months or 6 months. What if you can't get something in writing? Is it best to walk away and hope for another opportunity? It's a hard choice in this job market.

Melanie Panem · Answer

I think it really depends on the personal context of your home situation and job experience/strengths. If I was single, no kids, with the experience, skillset and confidence that I now have for myself, career-wise, I would for sure walk away from any job that refuses to pay and negotiate with me normally, and in writing.

However, that said, I'm in web development and design, which, along with most of computer science positions, has kept a steady pace of demand while all other industries and roles seem to be struggling in the pandemic job market.

Further, this is not my situation. I have a family and I am the main breadwinner and health insurance provider for both my son and husband; we also own property. The risk of walking away from a job offering steady income and health insurance is much larger.

If I were you, (and this is a gentle reminder that I am NOT you - so please form your own decision here,) I would make solid arguments for why you need this in writing. Get other people behind you on it - whatever that looks like. If they refuse to put it in writing, find your own way to take a solid record of the verbal agreements - preferably electronically as well as on paper so you have the digital time stamp to prove when the record was taken, but also a backup in case tech fails you (it often does).

You got this!

Furlough and Return Salary

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