Yahoo Finance Coles makes 450 Aussie jobs redundant
Staff at Coles have been told that 450 head office roles will go as the supermarket giant attempts to become more efficient, according to reports.
The job losses will affect workers at Coles’ head office in Melbourne’s east, The Age reported.
Coles confirmed the reports to Yahoo Finance.
The ultimate role reduction will be 450, including jobs previously vacated and left unfilled.
The restructuring will also see two senior executives depart the major retailer.
The chief executive officer of Coles Express, online and corporate affairs, Alister Jordan is set to leave Coles by the end of the calendar year.
Coles’ chief store operations officer Paul Bradshaw is also reported as set to leave the company.
Coles Express responsibilities will be redirected to Greg Davis, Coles’ current chief operating officer.
Managing director Steven Cain told staff the news on Thursday, ahead of what Cain has described a “strategic reset” to be revealed at a strategy update on 18 June.
Cain became managing director in September 2018 as Coles underwent a demerger from parent company Wesfarmers.
Following in Woolworths’ footsteps
Rival Woolworths also announced a restructure last week, but pledged that no jobs will be lost, with supermarket workers instead redeployed to different roles on the shop floor.
However the retail workers’ union, the SDA, announced earlier this week that it would take Woolworths to the Fair Work Commission over concerns that workers had not been adequately consulted with, and that planned redundancies were “not genuine”.
More to come.
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