Sony Corp Freezes Staff Wages, Cuts Bonuses

Sony Corp. will freeze its Japanese workers’ salaries and slash bonuses, seeking further cost cutting measures during the global economic downturn. Sony's now seeking solutions after reporting record operating losses. In January, the company said its managers would see 10 to 20 percent wage reductions thanks to salary cuts and bonus reductions. Regular employees' bonuses will be lowered from six months' pay to four months'. "This time we decided to keep the workers' salaries unchanged," Sony rep Mami Imada told Reuters. Many Japanese companies automatically raise the salaries of employees each year based on their time at the company, but Sony has traditionally linked its rises purely to performance. Now, Sony's widening losses come alongside unemployment on the rise in Japan -- and at the same time, the strong yen has hit manufacturing companies hard. [UPDATE: According to a statement given by SCEE to UK-based site GamesIndustry.biz: "SCE has adopted a payment system closely linked to the business performance of each individual employee as well as the company as a whole, and there is no plan at this time to change this payment system."]