Hyperconverger Nutanix has now asked its staff in Europe, the Middle East and Africa to take two weeks of unpaid leave as it tries to contain costs during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This comes after some of its US staff – including 1,465 workers in the state of California – were given two separate week-long unpaid leave periods between now and late October.
A Nutanix statement said: “Like many companies in today’s COVID-19 economic environment, we’re taking proactive steps to help minimize the long-term impact on our global team members and our customers. These steps include two, week-long unpaid furloughs for many of our U.S. team members over the course of the next six months.
“We have also asked our staff outside of the U.S. to take a total of two weeks of voluntary unpaid leave, again over the course of the next six months. Furloughed US staff, as well as staff outside the US who voluntarily take unpaid leave, will maintain their benefits and employment status with Nutanix while on furlough / unpaid leave.”
Many businesses in Europe have furloughed employees, with some governments paying part of their wages and salaries. Others are putting large scale layoffs in place, such as Virgin Atlantic, which said yesterday it was laying off 3,000 UK employees, 30 per cent of all roles in the country, and closing its London Gatwick base.
Nutanix’s unpaid leave scheme is on a far smaller scale, however, and it is not making permanent layoffs.
The firm added: “We have carefully scripted these actions to minimize the impact on our customers, with all Nutanix services fully available during this time. Our philosophy as we navigate the COVID-19 pandemic is to do the ‘most good’ with the least amount of harm for all of our employees, and these actions will help us achieve that.”
We have asked Nutanix if its CEO, CFO and similar level executives would also be taking two weeks’ unpaid leave. A spokesperson replied: ” I can confirm this is the case.”
