Accountancy firm Grant Thornton is reducing hours and pay for 300 employees during the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic.
The organisation, which has 4,400 employees across the business, informed its employees the decision was due to a decrease in demand in some areas of the business, however, where possible, it will be redeploying employees to busier parts of the business.
Grant Thornton also confirmed it will not be seeking payment through the government’s Coronavirus job retention scheme and will be paying staff affected up to £3,125 a month, exceeding the minimum furlough cap of £2,500 under the government’s job retention scheme.
A spokesperson at Grant Thornton said: “The actions taken today mean the firm can continue supporting our people in a responsible way and their earnings will be guaranteed at a level that leaves no one worse off than had we used the furlough scheme. Moreover, should trading conditions improve beyond our revised projections by the end of the year, those impacted to an extent beyond their full salary entitlement will share in the increased profitability.
“In making these decisions, we have considered a multitude of options, including use of the furlough scheme. We have assessed our own business against the criteria for using the furlough scheme and we firmly believe the appropriate option for our firm is for the owners of our business, the partners, to invest in our people in this situation, despite the probable fall in partner earnings.
“Today’s announcement follows earlier measures introduced to provide our people greater flexibility in managing their personal circumstances during this period, redeploying some people to busier parts of the business and decisions taken to defer profit share distributions until later in the year, to increase the resilience of our firm and provide further protection for our people, our clients and our business.”