All of Thomas Cook’s 555 high street stores are to be bought by rival travel agent, Hays Travel which could result in 2,500 staff members keeping their jobs.
Hays has already recruited 421 former Thomas Cook staff following the companys liquidation on 23rd September. Hays hopes to take on in total 2,500 former Thomas Cook employees which would double their workforce.
John Hays, who set up the travel agent 40 years ago in Sunderland and is managing director said it had been an emotional day (9th October) with many of the former Thomas Cook staff crying that their jobs had been saved. Mr Hays plans on reopening branches within days.
He went onto explain how there is no guarantee regarding every Thomas Cook shop but “it is certainly our intention to take on all staff” under the Hays name.
More than 100 staff will be based in the company’s Sunderland headquarters whilst the others will be spread out across the UK.
The company even tweeted out urging Thomas Cook employees to apply for a role at Hays.
When Thomas Cook lifespan came to an end it put 22,000 jobs at danger worldwide as well as 9,000 in the UK.
Mr Hays said:
Our staff were devastated to hear about Thomas Cook and we all immediately felt we wanted to help.
In the last two weeks we have already employed or offered jobs to around 600 former Thomas Cook colleagues, and it has been a very emotional experience for them.
Now that we are able to re-open the shops, we are looking forward to welcoming many more people who share our passion for the travel industry, into our family business.
Darius is the editor of HRreview. He has previously worked as a finance reporter for the Daily Express. He studied his journalism masters at Press Association Training and graduated from the University of York with a degree in History.
