Ikea Group Just Announced Some Massive Planned Job Cuts

Ikea Group, the owner of hundreds of IKEA stores in the world, has plans to cut 7,500 administrative jobs in mainly administrative staff in central support functions.

Fortunately there’s a bright side as the company estimates it will also create 11,500 new jobs in the period as it expands online and with new store formats.

“We need to simplify the way we are organized. Over the last years … we have invested in resources in many different ways. And, to be honest, now we see that in several parts of our organisation we have a bit of duplicate work,” said Jesper Brodin to Reuters. Brodin is the CEO of Ingka, the parent company of Ikea.
Brodin said: “Decisions like these are never easy and we’ll do our best to support our co-workers in a time of change. We continue to grow and perform strongly. At the same time, we recognise that the retail landscape is transforming at a scale and pace we’ve never seen before. As customer behaviours change rapidly, we are investing and developing our business to meet their needs in better and new ways. We will put greater emphasis on making our existing stores even better and taking the opportunity to renew and reinvent our business in a way that is inspired by our history, culture and values.

“This is not geared towards the store operation or distribution units”, Brodin said in an interview.

Tolga Oncu, retail manager at Ingka, added: “Over the next three years, we will become even more accessible and convenient for our customers with new store formats, city locations and a better digital offer. This means we will be able to interact with customers wherever and whenever they choose, and offer our range and services in a variety of ways, at prices they can afford.

Ikea also announced recently that it plans to build its biggest store ever in Manila, Philippines in 2020, with the store expected to span 700,000 square feet.