Manchester United staff given a week to resign as Sir Jim Ratcliffe stops employees working from home

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has put in cost-cutting measures at Manchester United (PA)

Manchester United staff have been given one week to decide if they want to resign as the club’s new co-ownership under Sir Jim Ratcliffe moves to end working from home.

In an email sent to non-football employees on Tuesday, United have offered staff early payment of an annual bonus, normally due in September, if they do not wish to return to office permanently from June 1.

United staff must now decide by June 5 whether to resign and take the payoff, or work permanently from the offices in either Manchester or London.

The message to United’s staff read: ‘Whilst many have ­welcomed our new approach, we are aware that a number of colleagues prefer not to commit to this new way of working and are keen to understand their options.

‘With this feedback in mind and the fact that we respect each colleague’s right to choose their approach to work, we will allow those who wish to resign now to claim their bonus early for this season if they cannot work from our offices from 1 June.’

Manchester United finished their season with an FA Cp win last weekend (AMA/Getty)

The email from United’s hierarchy added: ‘A return to office will bring ­substantial benefits for ­individuals, teams, and the wider club and ­support our journey to return Manchester United to footballing success.’

A United spokesperson said: ‘This isn’t a voluntary redun­dancy programme. The club recognises that not everyone wants to work from the office full‑time so has provided options for staff who don’t wish to return to the office to step away now.’

The move comes as part of the cost-cutting measures put in place by Ratcliffe and his INEOS team after they completed a partial £1.3 billion takeover of United in February.

Ahead of the victory over Manchester City in the FA Cup final last weekend, United cut employee perks for the trip to Wembley.

For previous finals, staff members had received multiple tickets for friends and family which also came with free transport to the game.

But for this month’s final, all staff members and directors were given just one ticket and were required to pay for their own transport – a £20 return fare for a coach to Wembley.

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