Agilent cuts workers' pay by 10%

<p>Agilent Technologies will cut employee pay 10 percent worldwide starting Jan. 1 because of the slumping world economy, company officials said Tuesday.</p><p>Agilent, Sonoma County's largest tech employer, has about 1,350 workers in Santa Rosa, headquarters for its wireless unit.</p><p>It's the first time Agilent has ordered an across-the-board, companywide pay cut since the depths of the dot-com bust. The company slashed salaries by 10 percent between November 2001 and August 2002.</p><p>Agilent also cut thousands of jobs during the tech crash.</p><p>“By taking a small reduction in pay, our intent is to avoid the necessity of more drastic action, including across-the-board layoffs,” said Jeff Weber, Agilent's spokesman in Santa Rosa.</p><p>The pay cut is expected to last through Oct. 31, 2009, the end of Agilent's current fiscal year, and will save about $110 million, or 1,100 jobs, Weber said.</p><p>The decision means an average wage cut of about $5,500 for the company's 20,000 employees.</p><p>Agilent CEO Bill Sullivan notified employees of the pay cut Monday, Weber said.</p><p>"This is an approach we've used before," Weber said. "I've talked to a few people, and in general employees agree with the decision."</p><p>Some lower-paid administrative, support and technical employees will have their pay cut only 5 percent, he said.</p><p>Agilent will review the pay situation each quarter based on economic conditions, Weber said.</p><p>The Palo Alto-based company expects revenue to be down as much as 5 percent in 2009 as demand slows for its electronic test and measurement products.</p><p>Agilent is the world's largest maker of test equipment for wireless phone makers, but orders have fallen by 10 percent as consumers stop buying the latest electronic gadgets.</p><p>The economic slump in the United States and Europe has spread to Asia, home of most of the world's electronics manufacturers, Sullivan said last month.</p><p>"The world has clearly changed in the past three months," Sullivan told Wall Street analysts.</p><p>Electronic measurement revenues were $865 million for the quarter ended Oct. 31, down 3 percent from the same period last year. Orders for Agilent's semiconductor testing, electronic manufacturing and network monitoring products were particularly weak, the company said.</p><p>"Our planning is based on the assumption that an economic downturn in much of the world will continue through mid-2009, and that no geographies or markets will be entirely immune from its impact," Sullivan said last month.</p><p>Agilent took other steps in November to control costs, including an immediate pay freeze and a mandatory two-week employee furlough starting Monday.</p><p>You can reach Staff Writer Steve Hart at 521-5205 or steve.hart@pressdemocrat.com.</p>