Following the announcement that Burnley based PVC-U window system company Veka planned to launch a consultation process, the business says it has now concluded this process and can confirm that 25 jobs have been made redundant.
Veka adds that it has taken ‘all available actions’ to ensure it remains a successful and sustainable business, following the recent business failure of two important customers.
David Jones, managing director of Veka, commented: “Having started the process on Monday 15 June, establishing an employee elected committee responsible for taking group redundancy consultations, we have followed it to its conclusion. Fortunately, throughout the process, working with our committee, we were able to reduce the impact from an estimated redundancy of 78 roles to 25. This equates to 6.5% of our workforce and reflects the new scale of the business.”
Veka is said to have taken a phased approach to the redundancies. Phase one redundancies represented roles that the business could not foresee and short-medium term relief from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and have now been completed. Phase two roles were those roles that were dependent on seeing positive sales upturn in July; focussing specifically on the operational needs of the business to support the manufacturing demand.
Due to a strong result in July and a more positive overall industry outlook in the coming months, Veka says it will no longer proceed with Phase 2 redundancies.
Veka adds that it continues to support those affected by redundancy by offering outplacement support and extending wellbeing packages for a number of months following each individuals’ leave date.
“This isn’t the first time that Veka had to make some tough decisions in order to weather a storm and I recognise that COVID-19 continues to impact communities and may, in turn, have further impact on business. Although I’m saddened that this has resulted in losing valued employees, by adapting and acting responsibly to ensure the sustainable success of the business, Veka is not just here for now, but for the future and for life,” continued Dave.
