William Hill's Israeli employees offered more pay to return to work

Two days after walking out of their offices, employees at William Hill's Tel Aviv operations have been told that they will receive an extra month's pay in November and are guaranteed at least six months notice or the equivalent pay in severance should their jobs be eliminated if they return to work on Sunday.

William Hill Chief Executive Henry Birch reportedly made the offer in an e-mail leaked to several media outlets. Most of the marketing employees, many of whom work in affiliate operations for the Affiliates United Network, have not returned to work to date and are reportedly concerned that William Hill is planning on closing the Tel Aviv office and moving to Gibraltar.

"We are committed to Israel and have no intention to close the office at any time," Birch wrote in the e-mail to employees. "I know some people wanted a commitment that their jobs were 'safe' until a certain date. If I give a date, people will assume that at that date we will close the office – which would not be the case."

Yesterday, William Hill confirmed that Eyal Sanoff, the chief marketing officer of the online team in Tel Aviv, resigned on September 27.

"Several other senior managers in Tel Aviv are now subject to disciplinary actions in relation to the disruption this week within the marketing businesses in Tel Aviv, and in the customer service and back office operations in Manila and Bulgaria," reads a press release.

"Senior William Hill Online management are currently on the ground in Tel Aviv working through these issues, although it should be noted that the office in Tel Aviv will be closed ... through to early next week, as normal, through the Jewish holiday period," added the company in its press release.

Playtech, William Hill's online software provider and a minority shareholder in William Hill Online, stated that it is "in dialogue with the William Hill group regarding these operational issues" and that further updates would be provided as developments warrant.