Marks and Spencer to axe 7,000 jobs in next three months

Marks and Spencer has announced it plans to shed around 7,000 jobs over the next three months across stores, regional management and its support centre in response to a “material shift in trade”.

The retailer said that during lockdown it has learnt to work more flexibly, using the same staff to man both the food aisles and the clothing section of the stores.

It added that its store technology package developed in partnership with Microsoft has also enabled it to reduce layers of management and overheads in the support office.

The company said: “As previously outlined Clothing & Home trading in the stores remains well below last year, with online and home delivery strong.  It is clear that there has been a material shift in trade and whilst it is too early to predict with precision where a new post Covid sales mix will settle, we must act now to reflect this change.”

Marks and Spencer said that it expects a significant proportion of the job losses will be through voluntary departures and early retirement.

“Concurrently we expect to create a number of new jobs as we invest in online fulfilment and the new ambient food warehouse and reshape our store portfolio over the course of the year,” it added.

Chief executive Steve Rowe said: “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.”