20th Jul 2020 14:04
(Alliance News) - UK high street retailer Marks & Spencer Group PLC on Monday said that it has started a collective consultation process for 950 jobs as part of the company's Never The Same Again business restructuring programme.
Shares in M&S were down 1.3% at 97.56 pence each in London on Monday afternoon. Year-to-date the stock has shed 54% in value.
The coronavirus crisis and the resultant lockdown across the UK has battered retailers across the country, with hordes of consumers staying away from shops even after easing of lockdown restrictions. The latest M&S jobs cut announcement follows similar moves made by its rivals like John Lewis and Debenhams.
London-based M&S said its restructuring proposals will move the business to a "leaner, faster retail management structure" and will remove "role duplication", providing clearer leadership accountabilities and freeing up retail teams to focus more on customers.
"The proposed changes would affect 950 roles across central support functions in field and central operations and property and store management. M&S has now started collective consultation with its employee representative group and has set out its intention to first offer voluntary redundancy to affected colleagues," M&S said.
Sacha Berendji, director of Retail, Operations & 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."
M&S initially outlined plans to accelerate its transformation plan in its full-year results in May. It had said that it would examine central support costs and headcount at all levels of the business.
By Tapan Panchal; [email protected]
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