Wilko puts 3,900 store staff under consultation

Earlier this week, Wilko commenced a consultation process with 3,900 team members relating to a re-organisation of store staffing roles, as a result of rising costs and an increasingly tough trading environment.

The discounter advised that it was planning to remove a level of supervisor roles across the store estate, but at the same time would create 1,000 new senior positions plus a significant number of customer service roles. The consultation is expected to run until at least October.

The most recent accounts submitted to Companies House reveal Wilko's poor trading performance; achieving a pre-tax profit of just £5.2m on a turnover of £1.513bn in the 12 months to 28th January 2017. The company experienced an 80% decline in profitability during this period, as the result of a £12.9m hit from a jump in costs associated with the exchange rate of Sterling.

Read - Wilko profit almost wiped out by decline in Sterling

Wilko retail director Anthony Houghton said the decision was necessary to ensure "all retail operations are fit for the future". He added that despite growing customer numbers and efforts to reduce costs, the challenging landscape meant that it was dragging Wilko profits even lower.

Mr Houghton said that the changes to staffing were the "legacy of retail structures that created complexity to manage which aren’t simple, fair or transparent for our team members. The simpler, newly defined store structure will give teams greater variety within their roles and result in more team hours on the shop floor, delivering a better customer experience".

Source: Insight DIY Team

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