Marks & Spencer has announced that it will be entering in to consultation with its employees with regards to proposals to make significant changes to its UK Head Office structure, which will see job losses across the company's logistics operations. 

The proposals have been developed by M&S following a detailed review of the organisation and an analysis of its processes and do not impact on M&S store employees. 

The proposals are centred on plans to reshape and redefine the organisation by reducing 525 roles at the Head Office and also reducing 400 roles across IT and Logistics, as part of the retailer’s strategy to work more simply and more efficiently. 

Steve Rowe, M&S CEO, said: “M&S has to become a simpler and more effective organisation if we are to deliver our plans to recover and grow our business.

“It is never easy to propose changes that impact on our people, but I believe that the proposals outlined today are absolutely necessary and will help us build a different type of M&S – one that can take bolder, pacier decisions, be more profitable and ultimately better serve our customers.” 

“We remain committed to investing in store staffing and improving our customer experience and therefore our store colleagues are not affected by this proposal.” 

The review highlighted that M&S has become too complex and inefficient and the proposals aim to address this by removing duplication, driving accountability and establishing clear, consistent processes; which in turn will strip out unnecessary costs. M&S has used the basis of the review to reshape and redefine the organisational structure in line with its strategy.