Virgin Airlines Asked Its Staff To Take Eight Weeks Of Unpaid Leave And People Aren’t Feeling It

Virgin Airlines announced several measures the company would take to save money amid the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, one of which is asking the staff to take eight weeks of unpaid leave due to shrinking demand and route reductions. Virgin is hoping this will result in minimal job loss while they reduce costs — though many will likely have to look for employment elsewhere or other ways to make up for the loss in salary. Employees are also being offered a one-time, voluntary severance package, and the company will be reducing employer pension contribution for up to a year, deferring annual pay increases until January 2021, and offering a 6-12 month sabbatical.

According to the airline’s statement on the new measures, future scheduling and routes will be determined by customer demand as the airline seeks to park 75% of their current fleet by the 26th of March, and up to 85% in April.

All annual pay increases will be temporarily suspended from March until August of this year when Virgin Airlines plans to reassess the affordability impact of the coronavirus outbreak. A company-wide recruitment freeze will also go into effect. The people on Twitter took a break from coronavirus outrage to throw some shade towards Virgin founder Richard Branson in a particularly British fashion.

https://twitter.com/absomarvilla/status/1239537540866203649

https://twitter.com/w0lvesno2/status/1239535104764108801

On the real though, how are you going to own an island but not pay your employees?