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Marks & Spencer to cut 7,000 jobs

By Andrea Byrne

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Business

Marks & Spencer has announced it is going to be eliminating 7,000 roles over the next three months.

The decision to further streamline the business is due to the effects of Covid-19 as Clothing & Home sales are well below last year with total revenue down by 38.5 percent in the last 13 weeks. Since the store reopened 8 weeks ago total sales have been down by 29.9 percent and store sales were down by 47.9 percent. However, online sales remained strong, up 39.2 percent on last year.

The group has discovered it “can work more flexibly and productively with more colleagues multi-tasking and transitioning between Food and Clothing & Home.”

Marks & Spencer CEO pushes forward with Never the Same Again programme

There will be departures in the central support centre, in regional management, and in the UK stores. It is anticipated that a number of the departures will be voluntary or early retirement as well. The cost of the programme, including redundancies, will be reflected in the group’s half-year results.

The corporation expects to create a number of new jobs as it invests in online fulfillment, the new ambient food warehouse and its plan to reshape its store portfolio over the next year.

Marks & Spencer’s CEO Steve Rowe said in a statement: “In May we outlined our plans to learn from the crisis, accelerate our transformation and deliver a stronger, more agile business in a world in which some customer habits were changed forever. Three months on and our Never the Same Again programme is progressing; albeit the outlook is uncertain and we remain cautious.

“As part of our Never The Same Again programme to embed the positive changes in ways of working through the crisis, we are today announcing proposals to further streamline store operations and management structures. These proposals are an important step in becoming a leaner, faster business set up to serve changing customer needs and we are committed to supporting colleagues through this time,” he added.

Photo credit: Marks & Spencer

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