In Germany this is known as "Kurzarbeit" (literal translation: short work). The company reduces the work hours of employees and the pay gets cut proportionally.

In Germany this is known as "Kurzarbeit" (literal translation: short work). The company reduces the work hours of employees and the pay gets cut proportionally. The cut hours will be paid by the state at a rate of 60% (67% for workers with children, the rate is the same as unemployment). So if a worker's hours get cut by 50%, they still get paid 80-83.5% of their wage. The company can choose to get the employees' pay back to 100% if they pay the difference, which sometimes happens if the hours are cut because there is not enough work and not because the company is in financial distress. This helped quite a lot of companies to stay in business during COVID.