Cook Medical is cutting workers’ hours and pay for the next three months to make up for changing product demand caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Most salaried employees will work four-day weeks with a corresponding 20 percent pay cut, while executives will see pay cuts ranging from 25 to 100 percent. Employees who make less than $50,000 a year are exempt from the changes.
Cook Medical communications manager Marsha Lovejoy says the payroll reductions will impact about 2,600 employees in the U.S. She did not say how much Cook anticipates saving with the move.
“We’re seeing increased demand for our products needed in ICUs to assist with COVID-19 patients,” Lovejoy wrote in an email. “At the same time, however, we’re seeing elective procedures, like biopsies and kidney stone removal, get postponed.”
Lovejoy says the situation is a first for Cook and will allow them to “weather the storm” while providing hospitals and patients with the equipment they need.