growing number of companies in sectors hit by the coronavirus pandemic are turning to pay cuts instead of layoffs to reduce their labor costs, hoping to preserve their workforces for a fast recovery. Employment attorneys and HR practitioners said that approach makes sense in these uncertain times, but they cautioned that cutting pay has to be done right to avoid generating resentment, lowering productivity and eventually driving away the best employees. Businesses that emerge in the best shape from a period of pay reductions will probably have these things in common: Also, it doesn't hurt if top leaders set an example by cutting their own pay first, as a number of airline and hotel executives have done, said Tom McMullen, senior client partner in the Chicago office of Korn Ferry, an organizational consulting firm. "In terms of engagement and morale, you'll be in a better place if leaders are out front, treating employees like adults and also saying, 'We'll come out of this and here's how,' " he said. "Organizations that can do that will have better-engaged folks."