SHEPHERD NEAME PLEDGES TO PROTECT JOBS FOR THE LONG TERM

Posted: 26th March 2020

Shepherd Neame is today (Thursday, March 26) announcing a temporary change to its staffing structure and salary levels in light of the ongoing Covid-19 situation to protect jobs for the long term.

None of Shepherd Neame’s staff are being made redundant and all will remain employed by the Company in the hope that the teams will be reunited and able to resume their normal work on full pay as soon as possible.

The measures being taken today are as follows:

  • Shepherd Neame will be accessing the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (also known as ‘furlough’ measures), whereby the Government will pay 80% of the wages of those affected up to £30k per annum.
  • On top of this, Shepherd Neame will fund the wages of all those affected earning above £30k per annum so that they continue to receive 80% of their normal pay.
  • All hourly paid staff in Shepherd Neame’s pub estate will have their pay settled for March in full and paid on the normal date.
  • Shepherd Neame is requesting that around 85% of its people step aside from their current roles on a temporary basis. Approximately 1,300 people will be affected across the Managed Pub Estate and Head Office.
  • For those staff that remain in active work, Shepherd Neame will be asking the higher paid members of its team to support the collective effort by implementing a temporary salary reduction of between 10% and 15%. This follows last week’s announcement that Directors have volunteered to take a 20% reduction in salary.

These measures will be implemented in a phased approach in line with business demand, commencing on Sunday, March 29. The steps are being taken in the absence of any detailed information from the Government and apply for one month only at this stage until the end of April. They will be kept under regular review according to developments.

Chief Executive Jonathan Neame said: “I am incredibly proud of our people, who have shown great spirit, great dedication to the Company and have been a great support to each other in these challenging times, as we all adapt our lives to support the national effort.

“Our focus is to protect our people, our teams and the Company for the long term. To do this, we have to take the difficult decision today to ask members of our team to stand aside on a temporary basis whilst our operational focus is restricted to producing beer for the supermarkets.

“As soon as the situation improves we will focus our efforts on resuming normal activity and look forward to welcoming our team members back at that time.”