Covid-19 has taken its toll on the Met. Forced to abandon its annual gala at the beginning of the pandemic, the museum has now resorted to laying off dozens of employees, leaving the museum 20 per cent smaller than it was prior to the outbreak.
With the museum closed since mid-March prompting an initial redundancy of over 80 individuals, the employee count now sits at 1,600 a considerable reduction from its prior sum of 2,000 at the beginning of the year.
A memo sent out to staff on Wednesday indicated that some 79 staff members were laid off, while a further 93 took voluntary retirement. At present, almost 200 employees are furloughed, and have been informed this will last no longer than six months.
A previous reopening date of 29 August was announced, however, the museum notes that this is subject to change. Dan Weiss, the chief executive of the museum noted that: “We recognize that the Museum that we will return to — whenever that may be — will be very different from what we left behind only six months ago.”
In a note to staff, Weiss noted that museum officials had done all that they could to prevent redundancies. He continued that he took a 20 per cent pay cut, and that other executives in the museum took a salary reduction of ten per cent.
The memo concluded: “We share the pain and sadness we will all feel across the Museum saying goodbye to so many of our friends and colleagues impacted by the position eliminations.”
