Coronavirus: Housebuilder MJ Gleeson temporarily lays off 76 per cent of staff
Housebuilder MJ Gleeson has temporarily laid off 76 per cent of its workforce after it was forced to close building sites and sales offices due to the outbreak of coronavirus.
In total 456 employees will be furloughed in line with the government’s Job Retention Scheme, and will receive between 80 per cent to 95 per cent of salaries.
All MJ Gleeson board members have accepted a salary reduction of 30 per cent, while senior management will take a cut of between 5 per cent to 20 per cent, dependant on salary bands.
The salary cuts will be reviewed at the end of May, the company said this morning.
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MJ Gleeson, which specialises in affordable housing, said it would prioritise sales to key workers when trading resumes. Two-thirds of its sales are already to people working in key roles.
“A key priority is to reopen sites and sales offices once it is appropriate and safe to do so and our focus now turns to putting in place a programme to ensure as efficient a re-start as possible immediately the resumption of trading is permitted,” the developer said.
“We are keen to work with central government and local authorities to agree what provisions might be put in place to enable the safe resumption of building much-needed quality affordable homes as soon as it is practicable to do so.”
MJ Gleeson had already scrapped its dividend, paused all building and land acquisition, cut discretionary costs and implemented a recruitment freeze.