UK pub and brewery Greene King is offering a support fund in partnership with the Licensed Trade Charity, to help any of its 38,000 employees impacted by the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) crisis.
The Team Member Support Fund has been set up with an initial donation of £300,000, which has been raised by the executive board and directors making voluntary pay sacrifices, as well as employee donations via its Gofund page.
Greene King employees will be eligible to access these funds if they meet certain criteria, with successful applicants receiving up to £400 in financial support.
By partnering with the charity, the organisation has been able to accelerate the introduction of the programme enabling employees the opportunity to access the fund immediately.
Nick Mackenzie, chief executive at Greene King, said: “I am incredibly proud of the way our employees have handled this situation. But I know it has not been easy, and in some cases, our staff are facing real financial difficulties through no fault of their own.
“The Team Member Support Fund aims to ease some of the burdens our people are experiencing right now, we are all in this together and we are directing the funds to help those who need it most. And thanks to the help of the Licensed Trade Charity, [which has] done an amazing job for over 200 years supporting people in our industry who hit on hard times, we’ve been able to get the programme ready to access in a very short amount of time.”
Jim Brewster, chief executive officer at Licensed Trade Charity, added: “Licensed trade people are balancing huge practical, emotional and financial pressures at the moment and we are very pleased to work with Greene King to add to the support we are able to offer at this incredibly difficult time.”