Wilko has shared its plans to move forward following retailers announcement that 400 jobs would be lost. The household and garden retailer which has its headquarters in Nottinghamshire said has created a new senior leadership team to help stabilise the business and speed up the turnaround.
The business, which is the 23rd largest retailer in the UK, has cut hundreds of jobs from its 16,000 staff members, including 95 workers at its contact centre in Worksop. Wilko’s new CEO Mark Jackson, said: "We’ve already begun our turnaround programme to drive Wilko forward.
"As part of this we quickly identified significant changes to the Wilko operating model to enable us to stabilise the business, and then thrive again." He explained that the business has reviewed its strategic plan and set three key priorities to focus on going forward, which include getting the business in better shape, driving sales both instore and online, and driving down operating costs.
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Mark continued: "To deliver our strategic priorities we must remain focused, and our leadership structure needs to be fully aligned to achieve this. Having now reviewed the current structure, we need to remove both the duplication of functions and operating costs.
"As part of this review, we’ve had to take some necessary and difficult decisions as we create a new operating structure that helps stabilise the business, from which we can then drive the business forward. Having now announced the new top leadership functions, we’ve already begun conversations with the senior management team and wider organisation to implement the new structure."
He added: "This includes some changes to our management structure at both our stores and head office. Right now, we’re unable to confirm the scale of change as conversations are ongoing but it will mean a number of roles will be made redundant to support the wider plan.
“We’re fully supporting affected individuals as a result of these changes. Such change will be unsettling to our team members and the wider business, and we’re acting swiftly to put in place the new organisational structure.”
To ensure these changes will be carried out, the 93 year old retailer has put a more streamlined senior leadership team in place. Dave Murphy Group Finance Director, Dave Murphy, will become Chief Finance Officer replacing Karen Mackay.
Retail Director Amanda Jones will take on the new role of Chief Operating Officer and Deborah Rabey will join the team as Interim Chief Customer Officer to lead the commercial, digital and marketing teams. Anne-Marie Haydock has also been promoted to HR Director role.
Meanwhile James Dorling continues in his role as Property, Procurement and Transformation Director and Philippa McNamara continues as MD of the product development.
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