By Ian McConnell
SCOTTISH public relations and marketing agency BIG Partnership has made 18 staff redundant as a result of the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Chief executive Allan Barr said BIG had a headcount of 90, following the redundancies.
He noted Glasgow-based BIG’s use of the UK Government coronavirus job retention scheme to limit job losses at the agency, which has operations in Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Manchester as well as in its home city.
Mr Barr said of the redundancies: “Nobody was welcoming having to make any of these decisions. It was the prudent, proportionate and responsible decision due to the economic impact of Covid. It was purely down to Covid. We took the necessary steps to protect the business.”
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Mr Barr added: “Had it not been for the furlough scheme, the decisions we would have had to make in the business would probably have had to be a lot tougher in the earlier part of the year.”
He cited “encouraging signs” on trading but, flagging the reason for redundancies, he added: “There is no doubt while things are encouraging, moving in the right direction, they are not where they were.”
Mr Barr, who said all of the agency’s senior management and board directors remained in place, underlined BIG's continuing growth ambitions.
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He said: “My job and the job of the board, and the focus, is to stabilise things and…get things back to growth. I have no doubt we will achieve that. The vast majority of our staff are in place. The plan is to continue to grow.”
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