Ann Budge has spoken of their need to "weather the storm" after Hearts staff were asked to take a 50 per cent wage cut.
The club owner issued a statement after it was revealed on Wednesday evening that workers had been asked to accept a drop in their pay as a result of the ongoing coronavirus situation.
All full-time employees will see their wages halved, although nobody's full time salary will drop below the living wage. They say they will continuously monitor the situation, and anyone unwilling to accept the contract change will be offered the option of contract termination.
Budge spoke about the "unprecedented and challenging times" they are facing with no income from matches with games suspended, and no cash generated through non-matchday business streams such as events and the bar.
In a club statement, she said: "This reduction in income is not sustainable without taking immediate action to cut staff costs and overheads. As such, I need to act swiftly and take steps now to ensure that we, as a club, can weather this storm while trying to ensure we are ready to resume operations as and when we move into calmer waters and football restarts.
"I cannot achieve this without full cooperation and support of all our key stakeholders, namely staff, coaches, players and supporters. I cannot stress strongly enough that we need everyone to get behind the club to help us through this."
Referring to the cuts to pay, Budge added: "I want to assure everyone that these decisions have not been taken lightly. If I was not absolutely convinced that this is necessary for the future sustainability of our business, I would not be asking our employees to face these cuts.
"Never has it been more important that we stand together as colleagues, and I'd like to thank the staff for their understanding. Similarly, we would ask our fans and our FOH pledgers to continue to support us in any way they can, during this difficult time."
