Not In My Back Pocket

I’m not getting a raise this year.

I’m totally ok with that.  I have a job and for that, I am grateful.  Had they said we were going to have pay cuts I would have been ok with that too.

My state and the neighboring state of California are experiencing huge budget shortfalls and they are trying to make the drastic cuts that are required.  Making those cuts isn’t easy because someone is always going to lose.  But here’s the thing – a group of people as a whole can take a smaller loss (2 ½ to 6 percent pay cuts are what I’ve heard proposed) or a some people, albeit a smaller group of people, are going to take a much larger loss – they are going to lose their jobs altogether.

Unions are suing to stop the pay cuts, people are protesting; it’s a very emotionally charged issue.  I understand that it’s not an easy thing to accept a cut in pay.  In an economy where our dollar is already buying less, the idea that we will have fewer dollars to spend is not a comfortable one to be sure.

But consider the alternative.  If you were told that you would have to take a pay cut but that the trade-off would be that you and everyone around you, your office mates and co-workers, would get to keep your jobs, would that be better than gambling that you wouldn’t be one of those cut?  Would that be better than coming to work knowing that while you may have been one of the lucky ones to keep their job, the guy in the cubicle next to you wasn’t and he won’t be here anymore to talk about the game on Monday mornings.  Instead he’s going to be worrying about how he’s going to pay his mortgage and feed his family because now instead of losing 6% of his income he has lost it all.   In a market flooded with unemployed people finding another job is going to be challenging to say the least.

This strikes me as another version of the Not In My Backyard mentality we as a society seem to have about things that are necessary but unpleasant.  Everyone recognizes the reality that the money just is not there and that cuts need to be made, but no one wants it taken from them.  It’s understandable, but I’m wondering when we are going to shed the “me first” way of thinking and start thinking as a community.

Spock said, “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one.”  I agree with that in most cases.  But I’m proposing that it can go the other way as well, and that the many have a responsibility to take care of the few or the one if it is possible.   No one said it would be easy, and sacrifices will have to be made, but would it be worth it?

I am not at all downplaying the financial hardship a pay cut can cause.   I know it’s difficult to have to figure out how to cut the household budget to match the decreased income.   It’s going to be harder for some than for others.  It’s going to be hard period.

So I ask you, in all honestly, what would you prefer?  Faced with the decision to accept a pay cut or risk layoffs in your department, which option would you chose and why?  In a market where the likelihood of finding another job is slim, unemployment compensation is a mere fraction of your salary and will only last 6 months (currently), and you would lose your health insurance because unemployment won’t leave enough money for COBRA, would you roll the dice?

Or maybe you think your position is safe.  Would you be willing to put that risk onto your coworkers?  Is your budget too tight already to be able to accept the cut and so you feel forced to take the risk? Maybe what would have been ok six months ago is no longer ok now.  Maybe your spouse already lost their job, you’re barely hanging on with one salary, and a pay cut would push you over the edge.

I am asking because I really want to know.  There will be no judgment from me here, and I’m going to ask you not to judge anyone else’s response in the comments either.  Everyone has a different set of circumstances and what is ok for me may not be ok for you.  These are difficult times; times where we are forced to re-evaluate our priorities and our principles.

I’ve already stated where I stand, but that’s because my particular circumstances allow it.   Also, while I work for a large national company, our local office is small and I feel close enough to everyone here that just one person leaving would leave a large hole.  I would take the cut if it meant that none of my coworkers would be laid off.  I may have had a different answer for this question five years ago when I was a single mom, but I don’t know.  My lifestyle was very different then.  I was very different then.  I would like to think that my answer would be the same but I just don’t know.