Tycoon begs staff to take unpaid leave
THE boss of Scotland’s biggest hospitality company has asked staff to take a “leave of absence” until next March in an attempt to save jobs.
G1 Group managing director Stefan King emailed and texted middle management and full-time staff to plead with them to accept the offer.
The group has 50 hotels, clubs, restaurants and bars across Scotland, including the Corinthian in Glasgow and Three Sisters in Edinburgh.
It was criticised for announcing redundancies in March but made a U-turn after Chancellor Rishi Sunak unveiled the furlough scheme.
One member of G1 staff told the Record: “We understand that the business is being wrecked by the restrictions but faithful staff should not have to bear the burden of this.
“When there are no other jobs out there you would have to take leave of your senses to take an unpaid leave of absence.
“We are trying to weigh up any potential benefits of taking a leave of absence but the most obvious consequence right now seems to be that we won’t get any redundancy money.”
In his email to staff, King reveals G1 is considering ways to avoid redundancies.
He writes: “One solution was to ask you whether there would be an appetite amongst staff to consider accepting a period of up to three months’ unpaid leave of absence from November 2020.
“This would mean that we could pick up where we left off when the worst of this nightmare is hopefully over.”
King goes on to thank staff for their “patience, support and understanding”.
He tells staff that any venue which has not reopened yet is unlikely to do so before the end of the financial year in March.
He adds: “In essence that means a significant part of the estate unfortunately will remain closed for the remainder of this financial year, much of the reasoning for this is dictated by the restrictions placed upon us by the Government.
“Perhaps the best example being unable to reopen late-night venues such as nightclubs.”
Universal Credit rules allow benefits to be paid to staff whose jobs have been kept open as long as they satisfy certain criteria and are available for other work.
The Record has asked G1 Group to comment.