Warehouse and Oasis staff face redundancy as retailer cuts costs
Warehouse and Oasis staff are under threat of redundancy as the retailer attempts to slash costs in a further blow for the struggling UK high street.
Staff have been told their hours could be cut, in some cases by up to half, with some senior store positions demoted to sales advisor roles, City PM understands.
Read more: Oasis and Warehouse buy London menswear website
Affected employees have until 5 October to agree to the new contracts.
Warehouse and Oasis confirmed that the review may result in redundancies, although the number of roles under consultation was not clear this evening.
The company employs more than 3,000 people across the business, according to its latest financial filings.
The retailer blamed the proposed changes on the “challenging retail environment”, citing the need to review its cost base “in order to run an efficient business.”
A spokesperson for Warehouse and Oasis said: “In line with this strategy, we have launched a careful review of our retail operating model across our portfolio of stores, which may unfortunately result in some changes to existing contracts as well as some redundancies.
“We have now entered into a formal consultation period and will fully support affected staff through this process.”
No head office roles will be affected by the review and the company has not proposed any store closures.
Read more: Oasis and Warehouse appoint new chief executive
Today the high street firm announced it has bought online retailer The Idle Man for an undisclosed amount as it attempts to tap into the growing menswear market.
In its latest results for the financial year ended 24 February 2018, the group reported a like-for-like sales increase of five per cent and said gross profit was up 2.3 per cent at £170.6m.
Main image credit: Getty