More Employees, Employers Are Learning How To Live With Less

As unemployment rolls grow, some Boston companies are cutting wages and salaries to avoid layoffs. Top Boston law firms are shrinking paychecks. The electronics company Teradyne, in North Reading, recently cut executive pay by 20 percent. And at the Boston-based advertising firm Arnold Worldwide, CEO Fran Kelly has decided to cut everyone's pay — including his own.

"We really wanted to minimize the number of our employees and friends that would lose their jobs in tough times like this," Kelly says. So he decided to cut salaries from 4 to 10 percent, depending on income.

Kelly took the first and biggest cut, and he says he faced more questions about it at home than at the office — that's where the paycheck goes, after all.

The recession has forced Kelly to reassess both his money and values. He acknowledges his family is more fortunate than most, but the Kelly family still has to learn to live with less. The next family vacation is canceled, and the next family car will probably be used.

This story is part of our ongoing series, Living With Less.