Radcliffe's letter to UK workforce
UK staff at Hogg Robinson Group (HRG) have been asked to take a pay cut, sabbatical or redundancy.
David Radcliffe, the company's ceo, sent a letter calling for the action to all staff on Friday morning.
The move came 24 hours after the travel management company (TMC), one of the biggrest in Britain, reported client revenue for the first four months of its financial year was 7% below expectations.
In a statement last Thursday, HRG said it was monitoring its costs and had cut staff both last year and again this year.
It said it was ready to take further action to lower costs as necessary but added that it also wanted "to maintain sufficient capacity to be able to respond quickly when the recovery starts."
In a further statement, HRG confirmed it had offered all UK staff "a number of voluntary options in a move designed to protect the business whilst the current economic climate prevails."
The TMC said it was the second phase of its Options For Change programme launched last December.
This offered staff sabbaticals, shorter working hours and unpaid leave.
The new statement said that HRG directors, including the chairman John Coombe and Mr Radcliffe have "unanimously agreed to take a 5% pay cut effective from 1 September 2009.
"In addition, voluntary actions are already operational in many parts of HRG globally."
Mr Radcliffe said in the statement: "Very few companies are immune from the effects of the global recession.
"At HRG, we pride ourselves on being a people company.
"We have invited our staff to accept one or more of a number of voluntary actions designed to save the company costs, whilst at the same time endeavouring to suit the lifestyle of the individual.
"I am personally most heartened to be able to report that a number of staff have already responded positively to this programme.
Current trading conditions remain challenging, but we need to be able to ensure we are well
positioned to offer the quality service for which we are renowned as the market recovers.
"We have always considered permanent job cuts to be a last resort.
"We remain a successful company, as demonstrated by a number of recent new business wins and client retentions."
www.hrgworldwide.com