Bunnings to slash 100 New Zealand head office jobs
Bunnings will cut 100 jobs from its New Zealand head office in a bid to become more efficient at a time when consumers are slowing their spending and seeking lower prices.
The retailer plans to cut about 30 per cent of 340 staff in areas including finance, human resources, merchandise, marketing and retail operations.
Bunnings managing director Mike Schneider said the restructure would not impact more than 5000 employees at the company’s 50 stores, trade centres and distribution centres in New Zealand.
Bunnings managing director Mike Schneider will cut 100 jobs from the NZ back office support. Eddie Jim
“We continue to be absolutely committed to the New Zealand business and its growth and success,” he told The Australian Financial Review.
“We have really thought about this, and it’s about improving the operating model and about leveraging scale and cost. We see this very much as helping drive more simplicity and more group alignment.”
The New Zealand business will still have localised buying and marketing.
Mr Schneider said the job cuts were considered to help drive greater alignment between the Australian and New Zealand business. Any cost savings are not material to the wider group, which will report its full-year financial results in a few weeks.
“The outcome of that is more investment into our store network, more investment into our frontline team and more investment in value for our customers as well,” he added.
Wesfarmers-owned Bunnings also recently restructured its middle management store ranks in Australia, moving from eight regional managers to four general managers. Bunnings posted $17.7 billion in sales and $2.2 billion in earnings before tax for the 12 months to the end of June 2022. The retailer remains
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