What to do when your company misses payroll?
RiderOfGiraffes: Note added for clarity: this was not a startup, it was a long established company with around 30 employees.  It is in an industry where raising funding would be a disaster and guarantee no orders ever again.I was working for a company some years ago, and pay started to get late.  No word from management, no explanations, and when it did turn up, no apologies.We were all starting to look to jump, and some did.  I found out what really was going on and started to make serious plans.I won't go into full details, but after about 6 months we managed a hostile management buyout.  We dealt with some unpleasantness from some people who jumped early, and half of those who had stayed were made redundant.  That was a horrible, horrible thing to do, but we had no choice - we had no money.  It cost us a bundle, but it was the only way to save the company.The ones who stuck with us are now secure in their jobs, have equity, have 50% of the six months of missing pay restored (we weren't responsible or liable, but we honored it anyway) and have a fantastic work place.In the middle of the worst, when negotiations were bad, we asked a few people why they were still working 5 hours a day, four days a week, when they hadn't been paid for three months, and everything was uncertain."We don't want to work with anyone else." was the rather humbling reply.Since then there have been months when cash-flow was tight, and money wasn't on time.  Company directors, I have learned, are legally obliged not to destabilise the company, and telling employees the exact situation when money is tight can be regarded as that.  It's not always the owners' fault.  Employees are quick to say "You should've told us." but legally, the situation is not always that clear.I have to say that we, the directors, never took more pay than the employees until they were back on full pay.  even then we took 1/4 pay for a further few months, then 1/2 pay until the cash-flow stabilised.  We never asked employees to forego pay without ourselves first taking nothing.I'm not making excuses for your bosses, nor suggesting that you stick it out and hope it all works.  My employees did, and they're very, very pleased about it.  I stuck it out, took steps, and now (part) own the company.Take control, one way or another.  In a smaller company, jumping is not the only option.