Hearts ask staff to take 50% pay cut

Hearts have tonight announced they are to ask all staff to take a 50% pay cut from April in order to help the club cope with a lack of income due to the suspension of football as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Chief Executive Ann Budge made the following statement on the club’s
official website:

“We are living through unprecedented and challenging times at the moment.  As you will appreciate my priority is the health and well-being of our people and in addition to this, as Chairman and CEO of the Club, I must also do everything in my power to ensure that we keep our Club safe and financially sound.

The Scottish FA has now suspended football for the
foreseeable future and, whilst there is no specified end date to this, it is
most likely that the game will not resume until July/early August at the
earliest. In addition, the latest Government measures regarding social distancing
and restrictions on large gatherings, mean that the impacts of this will be
felt across our entire business.

This has two main consequences for the Club: 

(i)             
There will be no income from matches and all associated business streams whilst
football is suspended;

(ii)           
There is unlikely to be any income from our non-matchday business streams (e.g.
events/bar).

This reduction in income is not sustainable without
taking immediate action to cut staff costs and overheads.  As such, I need
to act swiftly and take steps now to ensure that we, as a Club, can weather
this storm while trying to ensure we are ready to resume operations as and when
we move into calmer waters and football restarts.  I cannot achieve this
without the full cooperation and support of all of our key stakeholders, namely
staff, coaches, players and supporters.  I cannot stress strongly enough
that we need everyone to get behind the Club to help us through this.

 STAFFING COST REDUCTIONS

In order to try to prevent a staff redundancy
programme and to protect as many jobs as possible, I am proposing to implement
a Club-wide salary reduction programme.

We have asked all full-time employees, managers,
coaches, players and player back-room staff, with effect from the beginning of
April, to accept a 50% cut in their monthly salary, with the following caveats:

·       No-one’s
full-time salary will fall below the Living Wage.  In other words, if the
50% reduction would take anyone’s salary below this threshold, the full-time salary
will be set at £18,135.

·       Given the
uncertainty of the whole situation with which we have been presented, we cannot
say how long these measures will be in place.  We will, of course, be
continuously reviewing the situation.

·       Staff and players
alike, who feel unable or unwilling to accept this revision to their contracts,
will, of course, be offered the option of contract termination.

 Departments which will be closed /
non-operational during the Suspension Period and while Social Contact is being
restricted are as follows:

·       Supporters
Bar

·       Match-day
Operations

·       Museum

·       Innovation
Centre

·       Community
Department

  Academy Operation

Some departments will still be
required to operate albeit on a reduced staffing / as needed basis. Should
Social Contact restrictions become more severe, we will have to consider
closing our Club Shop and our Hospitality business.  Full details will be
provided if/when that has to happen.

In summary… I want to assure
everyone that these decisions have not been taken lightly.  If I was not
absolutely convinced that this is necessary for the future sustainability of
our business, I would not be asking our employees to face these cuts.

Never has it been more important
that we stand together as colleagues, and I’d like to thank the staff for their
understanding.  Similarly, we would ask our fans and our FOH pledgers to
continue to support us in any way they can, during this very difficult time.

I thank you all and give you my personal assurance that I will do everything in my power to try to guide us safely through the next few months.”

Ann Budge