[andrewwalker]

Agreed!

Think of it from the employer's perspective, if they're coming to the team with this proposal, it's likely they see a difficult financial Outlook. (Either that, or the management feels it's time for a culture reset)

I can only speak for myself, but I don't think many people enjoy the prospect of having to do a layoff. But sometimes it comes down to that or winding down the company, to me, in such cases, the choice is obvious.

pay reductions, are of course suboptimal, but they remove the need to spend a whole lot of time and money recruiting to rebuild a team once things turn around, so it's a sensible play from the employer perspective.

If it were me, I'd consider if I was motivated enough by the work independent of financial compensation to want to stay part of the organization, if so I'd consider taking the pay decrease but I would definitely push to for some future recognition that I took the risk for the good of the team. Ideally in writing.