WE’RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER
Dear Colleagues
I hope you are all safe and well. I know a few of us have unfortunately already been affected by Covid-19 and our thoughts are with each of you for a speedy recovery.
We would like to thank you all again for your continued resilience and positive attitude in the face of the unprecedented challenge of the Coronavirus pandemic. As you are fully aware, the focus now is on slowing down the pandemic with social distancing and national lock down measures in place to relieve the increasing pressure on the NHS.
The well-being of our staff and customers remains our number one priority and with all non-essential UK businesses now closed everyone should be working remotely at home. Communication is key during this time though and I’m happy to learn that many of you are connecting through regular team calls and hangouts. Human connection is so important, especially in our business, and we must all keep talking and supporting each other.
As mentioned in my email yesterday, our parent company, Barings, remain extremely supportive of us and at our Board meeting last Tuesday assured us that they will help us navigate the next few months. That being said, given that all of the group’s revenue has ceased it is still necessary for us to additionally investigate all of the financing options available to us from the Government and our bank.
I also provided details of our business continuation plan along with information about the Government Job Retention Scheme. Many of you are already talking to your managers about the furloughing process and the potential 20% reduction in salary. Letters to staff asking for their agreement to this short term pay reduction will be sent out imminently.
On a personal note, I’d like to thank everybody for their incredible support. It’s actually been very moving to feel this groundswell of support for the company with everyone saying how they want to do what is best for the business. We truly appreciate this and thank you for your commitment and kind words. We will all get through this together.
Our message to you is to stay positive and most importantly, keep well. We will be monitoring official advice daily and will keep you all posted of all major developments. If you have any concerns at all, please contact your line manager or HR, and we will do our best to support you.
Please remember to follow Government advice and continue to check their official website for all the latest updates and protocols.
We are a resilient industry, and we have had knocks before, however this is an exceptionally tough time. But with planning and some sacrifice from everyone, we will bounce back better than ever. Our main objective is to secure the survival of the business that we have so successfully grown together until now, and to preserve as many jobs as possible. We were a strong and successful business going into this crisis and we will be a strong and successful business when we emerge. Thank you all for your support.
Sending you all my very best wishes,
Rosemary
