Wellingborough firm forced to furlough majority of its staff

Wellingborough's Glazerite UK Group has had to take the tough decision to furlough the majority of its staff.

Following the UK-wide lockdown announced last month, Glazerite furloughed the vast majority of its 270 staff across sites in Wellingborough, Bolton, Peterborough and Bristol, at 100 per cent of their wages.

About half of the window and door fabricator’s employees work at its two Wellingborough factories, where Glazerite also has its headquarters.

Group chairman John Hewitt said: “This decision did not come lightly; in 20 years of business we have never had to lay off staff and we were disappointed to be doing it now.

"But as is the case for many other businesses, this is completely out of our control.

"Our staff are always our priority and we were conscious of minimising any financial impact as far as possible across our workforce.

"With this in mind, we have committed to paying all staff 100 per cent of their normal wages until the end of April, should the lockdown continue to be extended until then.

“The appreciative response from our staff has been quite overwhelming.

"We have a fantastic team of people who are truly dedicated to the business and who will do all they can to get us through this crisis, and out the other side.

"As directors, we too are fully committed to doing our best by them and resuming normal operations as soon as it’s safe and viable to do so.”

Glazerite’s board of directors and about 15 other members of staff are working remotely to oversee the day-to-day running of the business, and offer support and guidance to its customers, who are window installers to both the commercial and domestic sectors.

Throughout the lockdown, Glazerite has been actively promoting the Government’s advice, and a number of employees have signed up as NHS Volunteer Responders.

Group Managing Director, Jason Thompson, has also been in touch with one supplier, Window Widgets, to suggest using their 3D printing facilities to create plastic straps for surgical masks, an idea they acted on immediately.

A number have since been sent for use in NHS Trusts in London and Bristol.

Jason added: “This is a huge crisis, which is affecting everyone, and where we can, we want to help support those on the frontline."

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