• Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

Companies to embrace and avoid post COVID-19

Status
Not open for further replies.

td97

Established Member
Joined
26 Jul 2017
Messages
1,292
The response of companies, big and small, and their treatment of existing employees has been in the public limelight as part of the SARS-COV-2 pandemic. It's only right that consumers are well informed as to which companies truly value their staff and/or those at the forefront of the pandemic response, and those which treat workers with contempt are shamed.
I'll start by nominating a few examples
Embrace:
  • Home Bargains, with their £30m fund for affected employees
  • Many examples of local eateries and cafés providing provisions at reduced or no cost to NHS and other critical healthcare workers paramount to the pandemic response. Greggs, McDonald's, Costa, and Caffe Nero are a few of the multinationals to name.
  • MacDonald hotels, providing employment opportunities for those affected by next example...
Avoid:
  • Britannia hotels, sacking staff with immediate effect, including removal of their accommodation provision, and later backtracking blaming an "administrative error" :rolleyes:
  • Virgin Atlantic (?), with Branson whining about the need for emergency Government funds, whilst BA's owner IAG has been bullish that their finances are sound and no government intervention is required.
 
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

Jamesrob637

Established Member
Joined
12 Aug 2016
Messages
5,208
I avoided Britannia Hotels way before all of this: they're just grim! Most other properties can be obtained at similar rates to Britannia if booked in advance. As for Virgin Atlantic, sometimes all is not as it seems. Hats off to Home Bargains which I use semi-regularly, along with B&M, and MacDonald are a decent chain too. The kind you can find at Britannia prices in advance!
 
Last edited:

Andyh82

Established Member
Joined
19 May 2014
Messages
3,489
Britannia Hotels are also owners of the famous ‘Norbreck Castle’ in Blackpool. The reviews on tripadvisor are good for a laugh, as long as it wasn’t you staying there.
 

yorksrob

Veteran Member
Joined
6 Aug 2009
Messages
38,818
Location
Yorks
Britannia Hotels are also owners of the famous ‘Norbreck Castle’ in Blackpool. The reviews on tripadvisor are good for a laugh, as long as it wasn’t you staying there.

I had a really good xmas doo in the Norbreck in 1999.

That said, I've stayed in Britannia hotels on other occasions and they usually had a feel of faded grandeur.
 

ainsworth74

Forum Staff
Staff Member
Global Moderator
Joined
16 Nov 2009
Messages
27,542
Location
Redcar
Chuck EasyJet into the avoid list for me. Asking for a bailout and then proceeds to pay £174m in dividends to shareholders (including a cool £60m to its founder Stelios). I'm sorry but if you're paying dividends to shareholders you can't then go asking for a bailout. At least in a world where there's even a vague sense of justice.

Easyjet will go ahead with a £174 million dividend payout to shareholders despite appealing for taxpayer support.

The airline said that it might need lines of credit or loans from the government to cope with the coronavirus crisis. It insisted last night, however, that this would not affect the payout, £60 million of which will go to its founder, Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou.

Easyjet gave no indication that it would ask those investors to help the business.

Link
 

Bletchleyite

Veteran Member
Joined
20 Oct 2014
Messages
97,540
Location
"Marston Vale mafia"
Chuck EasyJet into the avoid list for me. Asking for a bailout and then proceeds to pay £174m in dividends to shareholders (including a cool £60m to its founder Stelios). I'm sorry but if you're paying dividends to shareholders you can't then go asking for a bailout. At least in a world where there's even a vague sense of justice.

Wow. They should be using that to pay staff.
 

deltic

Established Member
Joined
8 Feb 2010
Messages
3,201
Back on topic one to possibly avoid - Pret - makes big announcement about providing free drinks and half price food to NHS workers then next? day closes all its outlets.

& Top Shop laying off workers despite Phillip Green being a billionaire
 
Last edited by a moderator:

deltic

Established Member
Joined
8 Feb 2010
Messages
3,201
Virgin Atlantic is only 20% owned by Virgin - Delta and Air France-KLM own bigger shares
 

WatcherZero

Established Member
Joined
25 Feb 2010
Messages
10,272
BA has told its pilots to take 3 months unpaid leave and a 50% paycut.

Rumours all remaining British airlines will be part nationalised with the government buying newly issued shares which it will attempt to resell after the end of the crisis, similar to what it did with the banks (though these will be new shares rather than buying out existing shareholders at a fraction of their shares value).
 

lammergeier

Member
Joined
5 Oct 2017
Messages
506
Spar outside Sheffield station opening packs of toilet roll and selling a single roll for £1. Looks like a franchise according to the statement by Spar so perhaps unfair to avoid all of their outlets.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ex...cal-news/spar-selling-loo-rool-1-17943888.amp
The firm says it has been in contact with the shop, which is independently owned, and has since discovered that a "junior member of staff" was responsible for changing the pricing. The error has since been rectified.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Bletchleyite

Veteran Member
Joined
20 Oct 2014
Messages
97,540
Location
"Marston Vale mafia"
Spar outside Sheffield station opening packs of toilet roll and selling a single roll for £1. Looks like a franchise according to the statement by Spar so perhaps unfair to avoid all of their outlets.

All Spar, Londis and Budgens stores are franchised (other chains of convenience stores are available).
 

WatcherZero

Established Member
Joined
25 Feb 2010
Messages
10,272
Chuck EasyJet into the avoid list for me. Asking for a bailout and then proceeds to pay £174m in dividends to shareholders (including a cool £60m to its founder Stelios). I'm sorry but if you're paying dividends to shareholders you can't then go asking for a bailout. At least in a world where there's even a vague sense of justice.
Link

Easyjet took legal advice to try and cancel the dividends and were told they were contractually obligated to pay the dividend plan which had been approved the year before. If they had cancelled them their shareholders could sue for their recovery.
 

deltic

Established Member
Joined
8 Feb 2010
Messages
3,201
Easyjet took legal advice to try and cancel the dividends and were told they were contractually obligated to pay the dividend plan which had been approved the year before. If they had cancelled them their shareholders could sue for their recovery.

I am not a lawyer but intrigued by this claim - on line legal advice states that "The latest year-end accounts may not be appropriate when establishing current distributable profit levels. You will need to prove that sufficient profit exists within the company before payment of a dividend is made, either by reference to real-time information within online management accounts, or by preparing interim accounts" - a company that is hemorrhaging cash is unlikely to be able to demonstrate sufficient profit exists.
 

yorkie

Forum Staff
Staff Member
Administrator
Joined
6 Jun 2005
Messages
67,434
Location
Yorkshire
Easyjet took legal advice to try and cancel the dividends and were told they were contractually obligated to pay the dividend plan which had been approved the year before. If they had cancelled them their shareholders could sue for their recovery.
Maybe so, but i am not convinced they would have actually sued under the circumstances nor been successful.
 

WatcherZero

Established Member
Joined
25 Feb 2010
Messages
10,272
The end of year dividend was for the companies year end 30th September 2019, results published 19th November 2019, approved by AGM 6th Feb regulatory filed to take place on the 27th February with the payment leaving the company accounts on March 20th.

There was no way on the 19th March, the day before the money left the accounts that they could cancel it as it had already been made three weeks earlier. That's the advice they were given.
 

thejuggler

Member
Joined
8 Jan 2016
Messages
1,186
BA has told its pilots to take 3 months unpaid leave and a 50% paycut.

Rumours all remaining British airlines will be part nationalised with the government buying newly issued shares which it will attempt to resell after the end of the crisis, similar to what it did with the banks (though these will be new shares rather than buying out existing shareholders at a fraction of their shares value).

Colleague's son flies for them and he hasn't had a set rota for about 6 weeks. Unpaid leave means he should be eligible for £2500 a month Government pay out.
 

td97

Established Member
Joined
26 Jul 2017
Messages
1,292
Back on topic one to possibly avoid - Pret - makes big announcement about providing free drinks and half price food to NHS workers then next? day closes all its outlets.
As did Starbucks.

Brewdog should be on the embrace list, with their owner switching production to hand sanitizer and distributing it free of charge
We are bottling our sanitiser today. Aberdeen Royal Infirmary's Intensive Care Unit got in touch to tell us that they out of sanitiser. So we are delivering to them, for free, this afternoon. https://t.co/Tv7wqyqeIT
Likewise for Leith Gin, a small local distillery
We have suspended spirit production and are making high strength hand sanitiser for those in need in our local community.
https://t.co/kktqE3ziZW
 

PG

Established Member
Joined
12 Oct 2010
Messages
2,809
Location
at the end of the high and low roads
Not that I've shopped there anyway...
Sports Direct is one to avoid after last nights shameful declaration that they would remain open because they considered themselves an essential shop.
I see that following a substantial backlash they've done a hurried U turn :!:
 

Iskra

Established Member
Joined
11 Jun 2014
Messages
7,787
Location
West Riding
Costa paying their staff full pay for 8 weeks and donating stuff, stock and sanitizer to the NHS.

Arcadia Group have made most of their staff redundant, that's Topman/shop, Wallis, Miss Selfridge, Burton, Outfit etc. These companies can all still make money online while their stores are closed.
 
Last edited:

Iskra

Established Member
Joined
11 Jun 2014
Messages
7,787
Location
West Riding
Good. Employees have been told they will be paid until 22nd March and to then wait until any government grant arrives which could be weeks away. Just to rub salt in that little bit further, Tim Martin also told them to go and apply to work at Tesco instead. I rarely bothered with Wetherspoons anyway, i'll certainly not be bothering in future.

As flippant as it comes across from him in his ivory tower it is actually sound advice; if you are in a sector hit by a sudden major recession, moving temporarily to alternate important paid work where there is a sudden massive increase in demand, isn't a bad idea is it? People who take the opportunity and work hard might find they like it and get a permanent job out of it.
 

3rd rail land

Member
Joined
30 Jan 2019
Messages
623
Location
Where the 3rd rail powers the trains
Good. Employees have been told they will be paid until 22nd March and to then wait until any government grant arrives which could be weeks away. Just to rub salt in that little bit further, Tim Martin also told them to go and apply to work at Tesco instead. I rarely bothered with Wetherspoons anyway, i'll certainly not be bothering in future.
I understand that some businesses can not afford to pay staff whilst they are closing and not generating any revenue. However I expect Wetherspoons can afford to pay its staff for at least a few weeks without going bust and companies in this situation should keep paying staff at least their basic wage even if tips & bonuses are foregone by workers.
 

Darandio

Established Member
Joined
24 Feb 2007
Messages
10,674
Location
Redcar
As flippant as it comes across from him in his ivory tower it is actually sound advice; if you are in a sector hit by a sudden major recession, moving temporarily to alternate important paid work where there is a sudden massive increase in demand, isn't a bad idea is it? People who take the opportunity and work hard might find they like it and get a permanent job out of it.

Well yes, it is sound advice but it's just been handled in the completely wrong way. Add that to the fact that other companies that appear less well off are still going to pay staff for the next 8 weeks, it puts them on the s*** list as far as i'm concerned.

Just like last week when he claimed there had been “hardly been any” transmission of Coronavirus in pubs and refused to close. He's a complete tool.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Iskra

Established Member
Joined
11 Jun 2014
Messages
7,787
Location
West Riding
Well yes, it is sound advice but it's just been handled in the completely wrong way. Add that to the fact that other companies that appear less well off are still going to pay staff for the next 8 weeks, it puts them on the s*** list as far as i'm concerned.

Just like last week when he claimed there had been “hardly been any” transmission of Coronavirus in pubs and refused to close. He's a complete tool.

Agreed.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top