IKEA Group plans to eliminate 7,500 jobs globally that the company says will become redundant over the next three years. The eliminated positions mainly include administrative staff in central support functions. But the Group, which owns 367 IKEA stores, estimates that it will create 11,500 jobs during the same period, through the opening of approximately 30 new touch points and investments in its fulfillment network and digital capabilities, according to a company statement.
The expected redundancies amount to nearly 5% of the company’s current workforce, according to Reuters.
IKEA is in a transformational period, boosting its digital, delivery and other services while testing new, more accessible store formats. In the U.S. over the past three years, the retailer has opened 12 new stores and five new fulfillment and distribution units. IKEA plans to open two new stores in 2019, in San Antonio, Texas and Norfolk, Va. that will create approximately 500 new job opportunities.
Advertisement
“We need to simplify the way we are organized,” CEO Jesper Brodin told Reuters. “Over the last few years, we have invested resources in many different ways. And, to be honest, now we see that in several parts of our organization we have a bit of duplicate work.”
The job cuts will affect central functions and global service offices as well as local service offices across markets, but are “not geared towards the store operation or distribution units,” said Brodin.
