More Big Hitters Turn to Cutting Hours and Wages to Save Money

More news on what companies are doing to cut costs during the pandemic, this time in Spain. One of the largest property portals in the country, Idealista, is temporarily cutting hours and salaries to stave off its hemorrhaging revenue. 

Filing a Temporary Employment Regulation File (ERTE), Idealista’s workforce of 538 employees will see 25% of their salary covered from April 15 until September 15 of this year. Furthermore, the Spanish government has implemented a job-safety guarantee barring companies from laying off their employees for six months after the end of the ERTE period. 

Regardless, the ERTE showcases the crisis the Spanish property market is seeing while lockdowns are in order. 

Idealista isn’t the only company in Europe that is turning to cutting hours and wages instead of laying off its staff. Ringier Axel Springer has done the same with its Slovakian workforce. The firm is cutting wages by 20% for two and a half months, which started on April 15. 

Not all companies have been able to save their workforce in the same way. In the US, Matterport, though it seemed to be doing quite well now that portals are turning to virtual tours and, therefore, turning to Matterport for the tools necessary to create these tours, has quietly laid off some of its staff. 

WeWork, the tumultuous office space provider was forced towards layoffs, but not until May. 

And Opendoor, another US portal, has laid off some 600 of its staff with the CEO donating his year's salary to cover employee relief efforts.

Still, many companies are keeping their employees, offering instead, discounts to agents and utilizing billing relief instead of cutting hours, wages, and staff. The pandemic has forced the hands of companies across the globe to come up with new ways to save money, continue business, and keep their employees. Though companies are always looking to innovate, the crisis has sped up the process and the ones who are successful will be the ones to see to the other end of the pandemic.