Posted on 07/03/2009 5:05:49 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
The former state telecoms company - one of Britain's biggest private employers with 106,000 staff - is trying to save money as it struggles to cope with the impact of the recession.
BT has proposed that employees take up to a year off, in return for taking a 75 per cent pay cut. To encourage as many workers to take up of the offer, the company will pay their reduced salary as an upfront cash payment.
It is also offering staff a one-off payment of £1,000 if they switch from full-time to part-time work.
Parents are also being offered the opportunity to work only in school term times, so they can spend the summer holidays with their children.
The radical proposals - leaked to The Daily Telegraph - are the latest example of the private sector having to adopt increasingly desperate and inventive measures to tackle the recession by cutting costs without sacking staff.
British Airways last month asked thousands of its staff to work for free during the summer, and to switch to part time hours. Many car manufacturers have sent workers home on half pay for months at a time.
BT - which made a £1.3 billion loss in the first three months of the year - has already announced 15,000 job cuts last year with plans to cut a further 15,000 jobs in the next 12 months.
A senior source at BT told The Daily Telegraph that the "Time Out Options" will save the company from having to cut further jobs as it radically restructures the company.
He said most of BT's divisional managers have been ordered to reduce their labour costs by "more than 10 per cent".
BT is the UK's ninth largest employer and is the biggest company so far to cut its workers' hours
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
BT is just gearing up for the green jobs. No worries.
Call Arnuld in Kalifornia..... the CalTrans stafff already have the year “off” check out the ratio of worker bees to lookie-lous when you drive down the highway.... Duds.... one and all.
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