Cats cotton on to retail therapy for survival

The uptick in online sales has given folks such as stood-down Geelong manager Ben Waller a temporary job at Cotton On.

Geelong’s Ben Waller has found a temporary job working in Cotton On’s Avalon distribution centre. Picture: Supplied

Nine weeks ago, Geelong father of two Ben Waller was preparing for round seven of women’s footy as operations and recruitment manager for the Geelong Cats AFLW and VFLW teams.

Today the 39-year-old is working the 4pm to midnight shift as one of 300 new workers at clothing company Cotton On’s giant distribution centre at Avalon airport, having temporarily been stood down from his old job with the Cats as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Amid grim news on Thursday that 594,000 Australians lost their jobs in April, the Cotton On story provides a positive example of how our changed circumstances have given some businesses the ability to create jobs, as more people shop online.

Mr Waller said that like so many other Australians who ­either lost their jobs or saw them go into hibernation, he was uncertain about his future.

“At that stage, we didn’t really know how long (the pandemic) was going to go on for, and it became more and more important to seek other employment,” he said. “Offers went out from Cotton On about three weeks ago, and since then we’ve had a crew from the Cats who have jumped on board which has been excellent. I’ve got young children and it’s just so good to have more purpose in my day and to be able to connect with colleagues and meet new people.”

Cotton On chief financial officer Michael Hardwick said about half of the 300 new jobs had been given to existing staff who had been redeployed from the company’s stores, while the other half were external hires, including about 70 from the Geelong Football Club.

“Particularly through store closures, we’ve seen an incredible spike in online demand, which has been up over 400 per cent through this period,” Mr Hardwick said.

To keep up with that demand, Cotton On has had to shift to a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week operation at its new 35,000sq m Avalon distribution centre, which is located on federal Department of Defence land leased by Linfox.

All of Cotton On’s Australian stores are now open, after the company began reopening them a fortnight ago following a complete lockdown.

While the company committed to keeping all its permanent staff on prior to the announcement of the federal government’s JobKeeper scheme, many casual workers have been stood down. More than 5500 Cotton On retail staff members have since qualified for JobKeeper, with Mr Hardwick hopeful that with stores reopening, all the company’s staff members will be able to return to work before too long.

Geelong-based Liberal senator Sarah Henderson said the new distribution centre jobs were “very welcome news” from the city’s largest private employer, which has its head office in North Geelong.

“While so many businesses are doing it tough, many are also excelling at how they are adapting and finding new opportunities,” Senator Henderson said.