BYM consults staff to reduce costs
Measures being considered include voluntary redundancy, reduced hours and a pay freeze
Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) has been consulting staff over a wide range of cost-cutting measures as it announced the Covid-19 pandemic ‘has had a significant effect on its finances’.
The measures being considered include voluntary redundancy, reduced hours and a pay freeze. The organisation said it wanted to reduce costs while ‘promoting equity and protecting those most vulnerable to change’.
In a statement put out on 17 August, BYM said: ‘Like most organisations, Britain Yearly Meeting is having to consider the financial implications of the Covid-19 pandemic. This has had a significant effect on its finances. Quiet Company, its hospitality business, has been unable to welcome paying customers to Friends House and Swarthmoor Hall during the lockdown.
‘Normally these make a healthy contribution to the work of Quakers in Britain. Other income streams are also affected.’
BYM’s management team has now begun consulting staff ‘over measures that would reduce costs and protect jobs wherever possible.
‘The aim is to avoid any compulsory redundancies, while protecting the services BYM provides to support thriving Quaker communities and work for a sustainable and peaceful world.’
Paul Parker, recording clerk for Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM), said: ‘We want to avoid compulsory redundancies wherever possible. But we won’t be able to do that unless we can find ways to reduce staffing costs which account for more than half of BYM expenditure.’
The consultation will inform decision-making in September.
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