BP contractors wages slashed by 10 per cent

IT contractors working for BP could soon find themselves with a smaller pay-packet.

In an email sent this week, BP advised agencies supplying temporary staff that from next month, contractors' rates will be cut by 10 per cent.

The move is expected to affect some 900 IT contractors across 80 or so suppliers worldwide. According to a spokesman for the oil company, the wage cut will save the company $15m annually.

"Given the impact of the deflationary economic environment, BP is taking the first step to align IT contractor charge rates with current market conditions," the email to contractors said, adding from 1 March, a 10 per cent rate cut will be implemented for staff identified on an attached spreadsheet.

A spokesman for the company is also expecting to see the rates of its contractors in sectors such as construction come down as a result of the slowdown in the oil industry.

"At the same time we're looking at all other costs and also reducing complexity in the organisation over the last year or so, and not just because of the recent economic climate," he told silicon.com. "One of things we do spend a moderate amount of money on for a company this size is IT contractors."