Manchester United’s non-football staff have been en-masse invited to take redundancy, in an email sent across the club on Tuesday afternoon.
United are giving employees just seven days to make a decision about whether they wish to continue their careers at the club.
The offering relates to all employees who are not a scout or on the playing staff, and therefore impacts some who work at the club’s Carrington training complex. Employees have been given until June 5 to decide whether to take what the club describe as “voluntary resignation”, although some employees, who wished not to be named when discussing confidential emails, argued it looked a lot more like a voluntary redundancy programme.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe — who completed his minority investment in the club in February — is seeking to bring United’s costs down as the part of the restructuring process taking place with the club losing £42million ($52.5m) despite posting healthy overall revenue.
Earlier this month, United’s staff were told in an all-hands meeting by Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the club’s minority owner, that working from home would no longer be permitted and subsequent emails insisted staff must return to the office by June 1 at all locations including the club’s offices at Old Trafford and in London, as well as their Carrington training base. The redundancy process represents an opportunity for staff to exit the club if they do not wish to comply with working from the office, for personal or professional reasons, while it also reflects INEOS appearing to encourage staff who do not wish to buy in to their culture to walk out of their jobs.
United also asked any staff wanting to travel for the FA Cup final on Saturday to pay a £20 subsidy to do so.
INEOS is looking to trim the club’s staff count from more than 1,000 with consultancy firm, Interpath Advisory, hired last month to review business and operational costs across the club.
United hope the cost savings can help them better fit into both Premier League and UEFA financial regulations as well as allowing for greater investment in the playing squad.
INEOS are looking to cut costs (Robin Jones/Getty Images)
Staff members attending the FA Cup final against Manchester City at Wembley Stadium were asked to contribute to travel costs and were not provided with food for the trip. Staff have traditionally been offered a free ticket which they again received.
Ratcliffe is making sweeping changes and recently sent an email to all staff to highlight the lack of tidiness at both Old Trafford and Carrington, describing one area as a “disgrace”.
Staff have been warned that underperformance across an organisation like INEOS would lead to perks like Christmas parties being cancelled, with the implication being that this would also be how it may work at United.
United finished the season eighth — their lowest finishing position of the Premier League era — but qualified for European football after winning the FA Cup at Wembley.
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(Alex Livesey/Getty Images)