Bentley is cutting a QUARTER of its UK Workforce: But was it announced before employees were told?

GEPP

15 June 2020

By Alexandra Dean

Last week, Joel Hills of ITV tweeted that Bentley Motors were planning to lay off up to 1,000 employees and that the company will make the "Announcement tomorrow".

Very soon after, Hills was inundated with questions about the source of his information as employees in the business have not yet been told, and certainly none of the 4,200 strong workforce have been asked to volunteer for redundancy as of yet.

HR Grapevine contacted Bentley for further information and they were advised that the information regarding the redundancies was apparently leaked prematurely to the media as they had planned to inform employees first and, presumably, follow a proper redundancy process before anything further takes place. Soon after, Bentley confirmed that they were looking to make up to 1,000 redundancies through a voluntary redundancy exercise but that, in itself, would not necessarily rule out any further compulsory redundancies as the business has not been doing as well and has been faced with a loss of revenue and decrease in production.

Interestingly, Adrian Hallmark has confirmed that the Covid pandemic is not the cause of the redundancies, but has brought them on quicker than anticipated.

He has also confirmed that the company is not taking the exercise and loss of jobs lightly, which may well give some comfort to the departing employees.

We touched on the importance of ensuring that companies follow a proper redundancy process and consultation, despite the remoteness of employees with many working from home here and we continue to encourage that.

Our expert team remains available to support your business or any individuals through the process and assist as much as possible. Please do not hesitate to contact us for further advice and take advantage of our current offering of 30 minutes' free telephone consultation.

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