Belvoir Lettings terminates contracts of multiple Grantham employees in response to coronavirus crisis
The property franchise, Belvoir Lettings, whose head office is based on London Road, Grantham, has terminated the contracts of 15 local workers.
The firm claims that it will "attempt to re-employ some of these people" but "expect that a further modest reduction in staff numbers will follow in the coming weeks."
This comes despite Prime Minister Boris Johnson urging employers to "stand by your employees, stand by your workers, because we will stand by you," in Thursday's daily press conference. However, Belvoir Lettings reportedly does not qualify for certain measures introduced by the Government which were intended to help retail businesses.
An anonymous email to the Journal said that the headquarters of the national property franchise Belvoir Lettings has terminated the contracts of a number of its local workforce in response to the coronavirus crisis.
The email said: "They have ignored government requests to protect its employees and got rid of a lot of people very quickly putting them in a seriously difficult position.
"Profit before people. No effort whatsoever to save people, just get rid based on spreadsheet predictions. They are profitable and have experienced no losses. Livelihoods have been ruined needlessly and prematurely."
Dorian Gonsalves, CEO of Belvoir Lettings, said: "Centrally, as a franchise business, we directly employ at any given time between 120 and 150 people and around half are employed within the Grantham area. This includes employees within our franchise support team, general administration and finance, legal administration, HR, mortgage advisers, and direct lettings and estate agency by means of centrally owned high street offices.
"As a franchise network, there are over 2,000 people employed by the franchisor or employed by franchisees, and we have invested heavily in Grantham, which is our home town, in recent years.
"On Monday of this week I reviewed all roles that have been created within the last two years and, as a result, I made the difficult decision to terminate 11 employment contracts within our central office team, which is based in the offices opposite Sainsburys, as well as four further contracts across other departments.
"As a business which has grown every year for the last 24 years it’s heart-breaking to be in a position where we’re being forced to reduce our costs. Unfortunately, we didn’t qualify for certain measures introduced by the Government which were intended to help retail businesses, such as business rates relief, as our premises are not classed as shops.
"A full review of roles across our subsidiaries is ongoing and I expect that a further modest reduction in staff numbers will follow in the coming weeks, however it’s unlikely that any further jobs will be lost in Grantham, although it’s very difficult to predict the exact size and scale of the downturn we’re facing.
"I will attempt to re-employ some of these people dependent on the length and depth of this downturn. All staff who fall are at high risk of contracting COVID-19 have already been given the ability to work from home."