Well, what did you expect?

Imagine you’re running a train company. You have a timetable for seven days a week. Your staff aren’t required to work on Sundays, but can volunteer to do so. Indeed, you need some of them to volunteer in order to run a service, so you sweeten the offer by paying them double for voluntary Sunday work.

With me so far? Excellent. Now, you decide to save money by ending the double pay arrangement. What happens?

1. Employees continue to volunteer to work on Sundays out of the kindness of their hearts.
2. Employees no longer volunteer to work on Sundays.

If you answered 1, then you’re probably a member of the management team of London Midland.