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Coronavirus: Staff made redundant ‘should ask former employers about furloughing’

Travel industry staff made redundant before the announcement of government measures to support businesses should contact their former employers to investigate the option of being furloughed.

The advice came from Ian Brooks, partner and co-founder of Gail Kenny Executive Recruitment, in the latest in a series of Travel Weekly webcasts hosted during the coronavirus crisis.

He said: “If you’ve recently been made redundant (in March) but were still working in February then I would recommend contacting your employer and saying ‘please could you reconsider my redundancy and consider furloughing me instead’.



“The employer is not really going to be much worse off and I think some are unaware that you can furlough people after they’ve already been made redundant.”

Brooks said he had also been advising candidates who were unable to start in new roles due to the crisis to make contact with their former employers.

He said: “We have had some sad cases where candidates were about to start new jobs and the employer has said they can’t take them on.

“If they’ve left their previous role on good terms, we’ve told them to go back to their previous employer and ask if they can continue in employment and be furloughed.”

Brooks said staff who were furloughed could use the break from work to “rest and recuperate” and could also investigate learning a new skill that could benefit them on their return to work.

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