In the UK, 28 per cent of marketing and creative workers have had their pay cut since the recession began; 22 per cent have experienced a reduction in hours and 31 per cent have lost benefits. So says a survey of more than 1,600 workers by the Keep Britain Working campaign (www.keepbritainworking.com) published today, Monday June 1.

Overall, more than half of all UK workers (54%) have experienced a cut in pay, a reduction in hours or a loss of benefits since the recession began.

The figures follow the decision Honda workers made last week to accept pay cuts of three per cent to avoid redundancies, demonstrating flexibility and how changing working terms has helped organisations avoid even greater job cuts.

Two in five workers (40%) have been given extra responsibilities, while 20 per cent have had the nature of their role change, within the same organisation. Interestingly, two per cent have been offered a semi-paid sabbatical, while six per cent have been offered an unpaid sabbatical since the recession began.

James Reed, founder of the independent Keep Britain Working Campaign, called for people to add their ideas on keepbritainworking.com. He commented: "The UK workforce has demonstrated unprecedented flexibility during this recession, allowing organisations to explore a whole range of cost-cutting responses other than relying solely on redundancies.

“British workers are increasingly pessimistic about job prospects in the immediate future, but - and in contrast to parts of Continental Europe - overall workers appear to be making common cause with their managers to help keep people working."

UK unemployment figures released last month showed the number of people claiming jobless benefits in the UK rose by 57,100, less than the 85,000 predicted. According to the International Labour Organisation measure, unemployment rose to 2.22 million in the three months to March, an increase of 244,000. The corresponding unemployment rate rose to 7.1 per cent, up 0.4 percentage points.