Myer axes 90 head office jobs

Myer will make 90 roles ­redundant at its head office, representing about 1 per cent of its workforce.

Myer, the nation’s biggest department store, will make 90 roles ­redundant at its head office, representing about 1 per cent of its workforce, as it cuts its cloth to better cope with the pressures of the coronavirus pandemic that has plunged Australia into a recession and threatened the survival of many businesses.

Myer is using the crisis as an opportunity to forge a more leaner retail operation, but this will come at the cost of jobs.

The latest round of job losses comes after Myer cut 35 executive roles at its head office in Melbourne in January and takes redundancies to almost 200 in the past year as chief executive John King clamps down on costs amid one of the toughest trading environments in decades.

Myer, like many other retailers, was forced to close its doors in late March and send 10,000 staff home, but the department store chain has since reopened, and although online sales are booming, the retailer is determined to cut its cost base and streamline its operations in the face of the recession and general economic downturn caused by the pandemic.

Myer has made 90 roles redundant at its headquarters, with most in areas such as management, store management and ­administration. A further 50 ­executives will be redeployed elsewhere in the business.

As part of the wider review, Myer will continue to invest in its online platform and supply chain.

A Myer spokesman told The Australian on Tuesday that the redundancies and refinement of the business model were needed in response to the growing health and economic crisis.

“Given the impact COVID-19 has had on our industry, and the unknown future of retail conditions, we have proactively accelerated plans to refine and adapt our business to reflect the changing retail landscape,’’ the spokesman said.

“As a result, we will be putting a leaner and more agile business model in place to ensure we are best placed to successfully manage the period ahead. This ­includes refined roles and responsibilities, team structures and simplified reporting lines, which in turn has unfortunately resulted in a number of management, ­support and administration roles departing the business.”

The Myer spokesman said the retailer had successfully redeployed a significant number of roles within the business to minimise the impacts to team members, but it recognised that this was a particularly challenging time for those affected.

“We will provide full support to those team members departing the business,’’ he said.

Myer said it remained committed to the Customer First Plan and would continue to deliver against key focus areas of the plan. “In particular, we will fast-track plans and investment across our factory to customer and online business, which has experienced significant growth over the past few months, in what is clearly a changed retail landscape,” the company said.

In addition to these changes, Myer will bring back all team members to full time service.

“Servicing the needs of our customers remains at the forefront of our decisions and we reinforce there will be no impact to our service levels as a result of these changes,” it said.