Thousands of staff at accountancy firm KPMG have applied to work a four-day week or take an extended 12-week holiday under moves to avert large scale job losses.
The company said it had reached its target of two thirds of its 11,000 UK staff agreeing to sign up to the "innovative" scheme, which will start to be implemented in parts of the business from the end of the month.
Areas suffering most from the recession, including mergers and acquisitions, are expected to be the first to introduce the new working arrangements.
Staff moving to a four-day week will lose one day's pay, while those taking an extended break of between four and 12 weeks will receive 30% of their wages. No benefits will be cut.
Chief operating officer Richard Bennison said the prospect of a large number of redundancies had been "significantly reduced" because the two thirds target had been reached.
Some staff said they were going to take an extended holiday and travel while others were planning to go on training courses or do charity work.
There has been a wave of job cuts in the profession, which has been badly hit by the recession, especially in financial services.
Merger and acquisition activity has slowed dramatically in recent months, and other accountancy firms have axed jobs.
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