Marks & Spencer to review headcount “at all levels” in effort to streamline business

Retailer Marks & Spencer has outlined plans to review its staffing structure as part of its response to the COVID-19 crisis.

As part of its ‘Never The Same Again’ strategy, the firm has unveiled a series of measures designed to streamline operations following the coronavirus outbreak and subsequent disruption.

As well as restructuring its senior management team, the company has committed to “examine headcount” throughout the business and enhance its digital capabilities.

The news comes as Marks & Spencer reported a 21.2 per cent drop in pre-tax profit, with its clothing division particularly affected by the closure of physical stores.

Steve Rowe, Marks & Spencer CEO, commented: “From the outset we recognised that we were facing a crisis whose effects and aftershocks will endure for the coming year and beyond:

“Whilst some customer habits will return to normal others have changed forever, the trend towards digital has been accelerated, and changes to the shape of the high street brought forward.

“Most importantly working habits have been transformed and we have discovered we can work in a faster, leaner, more effective way. I am determined to act now to capture this and deliver a renewed, more agile business in a world that will never be the same again.”