Jared Oakes, a 30-year-old associate in the firm's real-estate group, says that though he isn't excited about the pay cut, the measure brought some relief. 'In the weeks leading up to the announcement, there were announcements of large law firms making layoffs, and you feel like, 'When is the shoe going to drop at our firm?'' he says. 'The natural anxiety of the unknown was taken away.'

　　Still, Mr. Oakes has other reasons to be anxious about his salary reduction: He and his wife Jillian, 31, a social worker, are expecting their first child, and he says the pay cut is part of the reason she will limit her maternity leave to three months, rather than the four she had planned.

　　Organizations in dire straits may have no choice but to slash salaries across the board. After being unable to make payroll in mid-March, South Carolina's Charleston Symphony Orchestra cut the wages of all its staff and employees by 11.4%. Musicians in the orchestra also took a 11.4% hit in the form of unpaid time off. Combined, the efforts will save $180,000. 'This is very, very painful for them,' says Ted Legasey, the orchestra's board president. 'It's a huge sacrifice. These people aren't highly paid to begin with.'

　　Some employers are trying to lessen the blow. At Momentive Performance Materials Inc. in Albany, N.Y., a chemicals and specialty materials company with 4,600 global employees, any worker forced to take a pay cut will receive an extra week of paid vacation for each quarter that the reduction remains in place.

　　Similarly, nonunion New York Times Co. employees were forced to take up to a 5% pay cut, effective this month, but were given 10 vacation days in return. Vail Resorts is granting full-time, year-round employees stock-based incentive compensation on a sliding scale. 'It's partially to ease the blow, but it's also giving people some ownership to participate in our future success,' says Mr. Katz, the CEO.

　　If your firm isn't clear on how long the cuts will last, experts say you should consider them permanent. Kenan Abosch, head of workplace consultants Hewitt Associates' North American compensation practice, says employees should brace themselves for the lasting effect of a pay cut. 'I expect the majority of employees not to recover what they lost,' he says. 'We don't expect salary-increase budgets to come back . . . for several years.'

　　Heidi Shierholz, a economist with the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank based in Washington, says the exception may be in service-based firms in areas such as hospitality, insurance and health, where she expects salaries to bounce back once demand picks up.

　　If you are forced to take a salary cut, financial planners advise creating a realistic new budget and sticking to it. Consider obvious cutbacks, such as cable TV and restaurants. If your pay reduction is severe, you might have to take more drastic action. Although it's usually taboo, you might want to take a scalpel to your retirement and college-savings contributions to free up some cash, at least temporarily. Joseph Montanaro, a financial planner with financial-services company USAA, says if necessary, reduce your 401(k) account contributions to the level at which you receive the full employer match. He also advises reducing or stopping contributions to a child's college fund until your salary returns to its normal level.

　　Emily Rybinski, director of marketing for the Charleston Symphony, says she and her husband, who live in Johns Island, S.C., will scale back on spending as a result of the pay cut. 'There is some level of uncertainty [among colleagues] about mortgage payments and bills,' the 28-year-old says. The couple also decided to trim their contributions to their Roth individual retirement accounts. She and her colleagues have also begun selling furniture and other items on Craigslist or in yard sales.

　　'Even our cat took a budget hit -- no more toys and treats for him,' Ms. Rybinski says.

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