Marks & Spencer has confirmed that it is planning to cut 950 jobs as part of a restructuring of its store operations in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
Having been hit hard by the temporary closure of its non-food outlets, M&S outlined plans in May to accelerate the pace of its existing turnaround plan and make three years’ progress in one. It launched its ‘Never the Same Again’ programme which aimed to “draw on learnings from the crisis and capitalise on the opportunities to drive the transformation plan in a changed consumer environment.”
As part of this process, the business committed to integrate more “flexible management structures” into its store operations. Following press speculation over the weekend, M&S announced today that it is now proposing to implement these changes and create a new retail management structure that is “fit for the future”. This involves removing role duplication, providing clearer leadership accountabilities and freeing up its retail staff to focus more on the customer.
The retailer stated that the proposed changes will affect 950 roles across its central support functions in field and central operations and property and store management. M&S has now started a consultation process with its employee representative group and intends to first offer voluntary redundancy to affected staff.
Sacha Berendji, Director of Retail, Operations and Property at M&S said: “Our proposals reflect an important next step in our Never the Same Again programme to accelerate our transformation and become a stronger, leaner and more resilient business.
“Through the crisis we have seen how we can work faster and more flexibly by empowering store teams and it’s essential that we embed that way of working. Our priority now is to support all those affected through the consultation process and beyond.”
A report by Sky News on Friday suggested the initial redundancies could be the start of several thousand job cuts at M&S over the coming months.
The job losses will add to the growing woes of the UK retail sector with the likes of John Lewis, Boots, Arcadia, Harveys and TM Lewin announcing significant cuts in their workforces in recent weeks
The Sunday Times reported yesterday that upmarket department store Harvey Nichols has warned its 1,500 employees that there may be redundancies across its business after the coronavirus pandemic “changed the shape of the business”. In a letter to staff, the retailer’s Chief Executive Manju Malhotra said a decision was yet to be made on the number of staff to be made redundant.
Harvey Nichols, which posted sales of £91m in the year to the end of March 2019, has seven UK stores, including in London, Birmingham and Leeds, and six sites overseas.
NAM Implications:
- To place these cuts in perspective, M&S currently employs 78,000 people.
- i.e. just beginning to scratch the post Lockdown surface.
- As with most other retailers.
