Staff 'stuck with recession pay cuts' despite recovery

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More than three-quarters, 77%, of workers who agreed to a drop in salary during the recession have still not seen their pay return to original levels, according to recruitment consultancy Badenoch & Clark.

Employees remain optimistic, with 76% hopeful of returning to a full salary over the coming months - but just 15% were assured this is definitely the case.

The study found businesses were offering benefits such as flexible working hours rather than financial incentives.

More than a third, 38%, of employees were given the option of flexible working hours, while 16% had access to remote working facilities and 17% were offered additional annual leave.

Lynne Hardman, managing director at Badenoch & Clark, said: "There is no disputing that the job market in the UK has been tough, particularly in certain sectors, over the past couple of years.

"Some organisations were able to reduce expenditure by asking employees to accept pay cuts.

"This, of course, enabled these organisations to maintain labour capacity within their workforce, avoid redundancies, and ensure they have the right resources in place once the upturn arrived.

"In reality, most employees had little choice but to accept a pay cut in order to keep their jobs.

"Now the UK is emerging out of recession, we could see employees being given more work for a lower remuneration package then pre-recession, which in turn could lead to many UK employees embarking on a search for new employment.

"Where budgets are tight, employers need to find other ways to incentivise staff to keep them engaged and to prevent them from looking for new opportunities."