Morrisons is to recruit 5,000 new staff for in-store roles, while cutting more than 700 roles at its Bradford head office.
The retailer said in a statement: “Morrisons is reshaping the way that its business is staffed, investing in new store jobs to deliver better customer service, while also proposing a reduction in head office jobs.”
New shop floor roles will be dedicated to improving customer service by making staff more available to help shoppers and opening more checkouts.
New boss at Morrisons David Potts said: “We are focusing on the things that matter to our customers. That means having more of our staff in our stores, improving product availability and helping customers at our checkouts. We believe our customers and our staff will appreciate the improvements.
‘Simpler, faster and cost-conscious head office’
“To support this, we need a simpler, faster and cost-conscious head office and that requires some tough but necessary decisions.”
Staff consultations about a simplified management structure have begun at the headquarters in West Yorkshire in a bid to slash 720 roles. The talks are expected to last at least 45 days.
The number of head office staff was said to have rocketed by 50% since 2008.
Shore Capital verdict
“We believe that David Potts has hit the ground running at Morrison's and his actions, in the main, will be welcomed by staff in store and those pressing on at the centre to take a leaner business forward.”
Those whose role is being made redundant will be offered a job in a Morrisons store and some will be redeployed in other parts of the business.
Voluntary redundancies
The retailer will also seek voluntary redundancies.
Morrisons employs more than 20,000 people in Yorkshire in its manufacturing, logistics depots and supermarkets and roles were said to become vacant regularly.
In a note headed – ‘Simpler, quicker, better for all’ – City analysts Shore Capital praised new ceo David Potts’s latest initiative, which will “enhance the culture of the group and to make it more effective for customers and shareholders alike”.
Not least the new boss was prepared to take difficult decisions at an early stage. “Morrison's central overhead has mushroomed since 2008 with limited discernible customer benefit,” said analysts Clive Black and Darren Shirley.
“In a clearly more challenging and ever-changing retail industry we have become increasingly concerned about its culture and cost base and so its capability to effectively compete. Both of these factors are now being positively dealt with.”
Potts was prepared to listen to his staff and customers alike and to build the learnings into “a streamlined and simplified business” that was faster in its decision-making and retail execution, more efficient and so better for its customers.
Shore Capital repeated its ‘buy’ advice on Morrisons’ stock.
Meanwhile, for the latest jobs in food and drink manufacturing,visit FoodManJobs.