MJ Gleeson to put three out of every four staff members on furlough

he news came as the Sheffield-based firm announced it will furlough more than three quarters of its workforce, although the firm will top-up their salaries to between a minimum of 80 per cent and a maximum of 95 per cent of their pay.

The group said 456 employees will be furloughed, in line with the Government’s Job Retention Scheme, and all board members are taking a 30 per cent salary cut.

Gleeson said two-thirds of its customers are in key worker roles and once the firm is able to recommence site build activities, it will prioritise them.

Gleeson’s chief executive James Thomson said: “Over 60 per cent of our buyers are those key workers - the doctors, nurses, police officers, supermarket workers and lorry drivers.

“It’s really all of the people who are keeping us safe, fed and healthy. I want us to do the right thing by our core customers. They are working incredibly hard.”

Gleeson has paused all building activity and land acquisition until the lockdown is over.

Mr Thomson said: “Like all housebuilders, we have sought to temporarily suspend site activity across all of our sites. That’s around two things. One is doing the right thing in terms of ‘stay at home and save lives’. It also reflects that the supply chain has come to a temporary halt.

“So having closed all of our site sales offices, we have furloughed staff across the business. That ranges all the way from site staff up to director level. However, the majority of our staff are site based.

“We’ve kept back people we need to work on a programme of sites for when they re-open. We will bring staff back as soon as we can.”

The sliding scale to top up salaries will ensure that workers on lower pay are looked after.

“For anyone working at site level or in office administration roles, we realised those on lower pay in the organisation will take a bigger hit to their income,” said Mr Thomson.

“So where people are working lower down in the organisation, they will get 100 per cent of their pay.

“All other benefits are being fully protected - pension, healthcare and everything else.

“We have sought to minimise the impact on our front line staff. We are very reliant on them, when we come out the other side. We are all in this together.”

Senior management below board level are to take a pay cut of between 5 and 20 per cent, weighted according to salary bands.

The company will review the position at the end of May.

The firm said that together with the cancellation of the interim dividend, the pause in all build activity and land acquisition, the cut to discretionary costs and a recruitment freeze, the company has implemented a comprehensive range of actions to ensure it is well placed to restart operations once conditions allow.

“At the moment we have told the city we have suspended guidance for our current financial year,” said Mr Thomson.

“What I can predict is there will be a recovery on the other side and indeed I think we will be one of the early beneficiaries of the housing market as we are servicing the first time buyer market.”

Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade.

And that is why I must make an urgent request of you: as advertising revenue declines, your support becomes evermore crucial to the maintenance of the journalistic standards expected of The Yorkshire Post. If you can, safely, please buy a paper or take up a subscription. We want to continue to make you proud of Yorkshire’s National Newspaper but we are going to need your help.

Postal subscription copies can be ordered by calling 0330 4030066 or by emailing [email protected]. Vouchers, to be exchanged at retail sales outlets - our newsagents need you, too - can be subscribed to by contacting subscriptions on 0330 1235950 or by visiting www.localsubsplus.co.uk where you should select The Yorkshire Post from the list of titles available.

If you want to help right now, download our tablet app from the App / Play Stores. Every contribution you make helps to provide this county with the best regional journalism in the country.

Sincerely. Thank you.

James Mitchinson

Editor