B&Q Plans To Cut Hundreds Of Store Jobs

Retail Week has reported that B&Q has placed more than 650 staff under consultation as it seeks to simplify the structure of the business. 

The publication indicates that 672 staff members are at risk of redundancy, the majority of which are employed within B&Q's 318 stores as deputy managers, trading managers and team leaders. Some 65 head office roles are also understood to be at risk.   

Graham Bell, B&Q's CEO, told Retail Week: “Over the last few years, we’ve evolved at pace to ensure that we can give our customers the very best retail experience. We’ve physically changed our operations so that our stores, apps and online are fully integrated helping home improvers by giving them more choice, speed and convenience. And we need to keep changing.

“In this dynamic world of retail, we are very much in control of shaping our future. Today’s news would ensure that we continue to evolve and grow market share, by prioritising our resources where we can help our customers most.”

“The proposals shared with colleagues today – to simplify our retail leadership structure and reallocate time to customer service roles on the shop floor, and to change some head office teams – have meant some difficult choices.

“They impact our dedicated colleagues in retail leadership across all of our stores and in head office functions, and we’ll be doing everything we can to support them.

“Ultimately it is about setting our business up in the right way so that our colleagues are equipped to give our customers consistently exceptional customer service now and in the future, so that we give home improvers the choice and convenience they deserve.”

Source : Retail Week

Image : B&Q 

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