Federal Group assures soon-to-be-stood-down workers their jobs will be waiting for them

UPDATED: All Federal Group workers will have a job to return to when the COVID-19 crisis is over, the company has announced.

ALL 1500 Federal Group workers expected to be stood down will have a job to come back to when the COVID-19 crisis is over, says the company’s corporate affairs executive general manager.

Daniel Hanna announced on Monday Federal, one of the state’s major hospitality and tourism employers, would stand down 1500 of its 1900 staff in the wake of the Federal Government’s coronavirus restrictions.

About 7.30pm on Tuesday night, the company lit up the Wrest Point Casino tower in blue in what it said was a sign of solidarity for the state’s entire beleaguered tourism and hospitality industry.

Wrest Point lights up its tower at Hobart. Picture: CHRIS KIDD

In a statement released this afternoon, Mr Hanna said all full time, part time and casual employees would be able to return to their jobs “when this is all over.”

“We simply have no work for most people at this point,” he said.

“Our response to these unprecedented circumstances has been the same as most businesses, both big and small, and our employees face the same challenges as tens of thousands of other

Tasmanians.”

Mr Hanna said the company was still working through the official processes of standing workers down and all employees would be paid for their rostered shifts until Sunday night.

“We are moving quickly to identify any team members who are unable to access Government allowances because of their citizenship status or who are at risk of homelessness or who cannot access food or emergency medicines, and we will do what we can to support these people,” Mr Hanna said.

Ongoing job losses and closures nationwide have seen job vacancies slashed by nearly 20 per cent in the first fortnight of March.

Figures from job site Adunza showed a 19.8 per cent drop in Australian listings, similar to statistics from Brazil and the UK. However, Federal Group and other organisations are vowing to look after employees, with opportunities popping up around the state to meet greater demand during the pandemic.

Recent online job search figures showed 1935 Tasmanian job listings on Jora, 1189 on Adunza, 939 on SEEK and 720 on Indeed.