As I notified to World Sailing Members last week, the Board of Directors continues to keep the finances and operations of World Sailing under very close review during the COVID-19 virus pandemic and the effect it is having on all international sports federations.
 
The United Kingdom Government has made available a generous financial support scheme which can be accessed by World Sailing (UK) Limited (the company which employs the World Sailing staff) to support salary costs during the crisis. Like many organisations within the UK, the Board has decided to take advantage of this scheme in order to ensure the long-term financial viability of World Sailing.
 
From 15 April 2020 until 6 May 2020, almost all World Sailing staff are being placed on ‘furlough leave’.  During furlough, staff are not permitted to engage in any work for World Sailing.  In exchange, the UK Government will fund up to 80% of their salary costs (up to a cap).  World Sailing will fund any difference in pay.  After 6 May, the Board will review the position with the Senior Management Team and decide whether furlough leave is extended or whether staff will return to work.
 
I must emphasise to all World Sailing Members, volunteers and stakeholders that it is a legal condition that staff cannot work for World Sailing whilst on furlough leave.  Therefore, no emails, calls or correspondence will be responded to from the staff and nor should you expect any reply.  I understand this will be difficult for a number of areas of World Sailing, but we must respect the conditions of this scheme.
 
A small number of senior managers will not be on furlough leave and remain at work.  If you have a genuinely urgent matter for World Sailing you should email urgent@sailing.org and your request will be triaged to see if it requires a response.  You should not email a senior manager directly just because your normal contact is on leave.  Only genuinely urgent matters should be sent to the designated mailbox (and the Board expects these to be few indeed).
 
In addition to this measure, the Board has requested that World Sailing staff earning more than a certain amount take a 20% pay reduction until the end of the year (or earlier if possible).  This requires the individual agreement of the staff and we have been consulting with the staff on the viability of this proposal.  Overall, the Board continues to have frequent discussions with our partners concerning the impact of the postponement of the Olympic Games in order to ensure our financial health is as stable as possible.