Auchan has confirmed it will cut 300 jobs at its hypermarkets in France by 2017 as part of moves to shake up the way it staffs its stores.
Speaking to just-food today (3 February), a spokesperson for the French retailer said the company wanted to bolster the number of staff on the shop floor. Auchan plans to create a further 500 front-of-house postions across the 120 sites in France but reduce the number of management positions by about 800 by the end of 2016.
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“We’ve created a new section in the store called commercial employees. This position carries greater responsibility regarding selling products, commercial strategy, detailing on product offer and optimisation of customer needs,” the spokesperson said.
“Our manager roles will change a bit to focus more on employee management and commercial policies. They will have more responsibility, but be able to spend more time on tasks where they can bring added value. The role will be focused on leading commercial strategy and employee management which is very important for staff development.”
“Giving more responsibility to floor staff is a strategy of the company to allow more opportunities to serve the customers. They are in the face of the customer and well placed to see and understand the customer’s needs,” said the spokesperson.
“It is important to add that when we talk of the fall of 800 management positions across three years, that’s a number of departures that would be expected based on natural turnover here. We will not force anyone to leave – there are plans in place to offer other suitable roles within the company,” he concluded.
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By GlobalDataAuchan, meanwhile, plans to open up three hypermarkets and 12 Auchan Drive click-and-collect locations by 2017, which could result in a further 1,500 jobs created.
