<p><p><p>MJ Gleeson is the latest housebuilder to furlough staff and cut executive pay in response to the coronavirus crisis.</p><p>The company, which provides low cost housing and undertakes strategic land trading, announced that under the government’s Job Retention Scheme it would furlough 76% of its workforce – stop their work but not make them redundant. This amounts to 456 of its employees, with the business “topping up” salaries up to a minimum of 80% and a maximum of 95% salary.</p><p>Meanwhile, all board members were set to take a salary reduction of 30%, Gleeson said. Senior management will see salaries slashed by between 5% and 20%. The firm added that it would review all these changes at the end of May.</p><p>Gleeson said these measures added to a range of other actions “to ensure that it is well placed to restart operationally once conditions allow”. On March 25, it announced the closure of sites and cancelled its interim dividend.</p><p>It added that, once site programmes could resume, it would prioritise its sales to key workers, “in recognition of their extraordinary efforts in keeping us all safe, fed and healthy”. Two thirds of Gleeson’s homes are sold to people “in what are now designated key …