HWP job cuts affect 21 employees

THURSDAY, AUGUST 25: As a consequence of the August 8th fire, HWP has been required to lay off and to give notice to a number of its team members. The total number of staff affected is 21.

Jonathan Brewin, President and CEO, said, “We are not in a position to employ the same staff levels (as we did prior to the fire) due to the financial impact of the fire.   We simply cannot regain the lost revenues that have occurred as a result of destruction of our body and paint shops, showrooms, parts depot, administrative offices and IT and communications systems. All of our efforts are on minimizing sustained reductions in our employment levels.

"This has been done initially through cutting all non payroll costs and at the same time, getting as much of our operations up and running as is possible. Although the HWP team has been incredible and worked tirelessly to resume operations, the fact remains that the destruction of our facilities and inventories has caused significant reductions to our revenue stream.”

Don Mackenzie, Chairman, said, “The shareholders and management team have spent the last two weeks exhaustively looking at options to avoid reducing our staff numbers – however the fire has placed matters beyond our control. Now we are reviewing all and any strategies to assist team members who will be affected by our situation.

"We are undertaking the following (where practical):  temporary assignments with other dealers and garages, developing alternative employment strategies and options, providing resources for advice and support for those affected by severance or lay-off, and utilizing a lay off strategy (rather than severance) for staff members if we have the opportunity to bring them back as we review alternative employment options within HWP.”

Jonathan Brewin added, “We are grateful to the public and our customers for their continued support and custom with HWP. As detailed earlier, we are still operating our showrooms, parts and mechanical services. Getting these parts of our company back to normal revenue levels will ultimately assist our employees.”