Q: We are facing a third round of cost cutting and are on a bare-bones organisational structure. Are we able to reduce employees’ salaries temporarily for a specified period, but still have them work full-time hours to avoid redundancy?

A: Generally speaking, you can speak to your staff to determine whether they will accept working reduced hours, or at a lower salary. If they consent, you could implement these changes.

If they do not accept, you may need to consider whether their positions are redundant. A position will be redundant where it is no longer required for operational reasons. It may be that the full-time positions are no longer available but part-time positions are. In which case, employees whose positions are redundant should be offered redeployment to a part-time role.

Please note: The answer is correct at the time of publishing. Be aware that laws may change over time. Refer to Redundancy and retrenchment for current advice.