The Dutch arm of IT company Capgemini said on Wednesday it has changed its mind about asking expensive, mainly older, workers to take a pay cut.

Board member Jeroen Versteeg told the Financieele Dagblad the voluntary pay cuts were no longer necessary because the company is doing better.

Versteeg said in January that expensive workers would be asked to take a pay cut, some of them of up to 20%. ‘There is a mismatch between what people earn and what they can do,’ he said at the time.

Many Capgemini workers are still in talks with the company on the subject.

However, Versteeg says the pay cuts are now less urgent. ‘We have regained the feeling we are winning market share,’ he told the FD.

Trade union FNV Bondgenoten is surprised by the comments, not least because the change of heart has not been communicated to the workers. ‘How can you lead a company if you call for pay cuts and six months later say it is not necessary?’ the union’s Bob Bolte told the paper.