More than 100 staff at WH Smith’s travel stores are being made redundant, MailOnline can reveal – as the firm gears up to focus exclusively on its business in airports, train stations and hospitals.
The retail giant is angling to sell off its high street division so it can focus on the lucrative travel division, which generated £126million of profit last year, up almost 25 per cent year-on-year.
However, it has quietly made 102 managers in the sector redundant and told others they had to fight it out for ‘newly created’ roles on lower pay.
The firm, which now brands itself ‘the global travel retailer’, informed managers at around 40 per cent of its 579 travel stores across the UK that they were at risk of redundancy at the end of November.
Staff were told to reapply for one of two newly created roles: a manager role that would see them oversee up to six stores each, rather than one, or either a sales assistant or ‘team leader’ role for a single store that would see them take a pay cut.
An email sent to travel managers, seen by MailOnline, informed them they would have to fight for a reduced number of new jobs and that their existing role was being ‘removed’.
The email read: ‘We’re not proposing these changes lightly. We fully understand the impact these changes will have on some of our valued colleagues, and we are committed to supporting them.
‘However, to remain competitive and continue to thrive, we need to make these proposed changes now. By doing so, we are giving ourselves the best possible chance to secure the organisation’s future and sustain long-term success.’
More than 100 staff at WH Smith’s travel stores are being made redundant, MailOnline can reveal. File image
The retail giant is angling to sell off its high street division so it can focus on the lucrative travel division. File image
The firm informed managers at around 40 per cent of its 579 travel stores across the UK that they were at risk of redundancy. File image
Staff were subjected to interviews justifying why they should remain a manager.
Culls were then confirmed sometime in the last fortnight, according to sources familiar with the matter. MailOnline understands a total of 102 people have lost their jobs.
WH Smith sources insisted the move was a net positive – with 215 roles created across ‘team leaders’ and shop assistants, putting more workers on shop floors.
But the roles come with smaller salaries – with team leaders typically paid under £25,000 a year.
Data from jobs site Glassdoor suggests managers were previously paid an average of £27,148.
A WH Smith spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘Our UK Travel business is our largest division, and it has consistently delivered strong growth.
‘To support the future growth of the business and the ongoing growth in passenger numbers, we have recently proposed a change to the structure of our in-store teams.
‘This will result in fewer but larger in-store management roles, with over two hundred new jobs created for colleagues on the shop floor.
‘These proposed changes will ensure we can deliver even better service to the increasing number of customers visiting our Travel stores.
‘This investment in more customer-facing roles and training and development plans for our people is the latest example of how we continue to deliver for our partners and customers in these markets.’
