Royal Mail to cut 1,600 managerial jobs
Royal Mail has announced plans to axe 1,600 middle management jobs in an effort to save £50m a year.
The UK’s newly-privatised universal postal service provider said today that the “vast majority” of the jobs lost will be among its operational and head office managers, avoiding impacts on frontline employees including delivery staff.
The company plans to create around 300 new jobs, leaving a net reduction of 1,300 roles.
The Group’s European parcel business, GLS, is not affected by the plan.
Royal Mail said it was starting formal consultation with the unions Unite and the Communication Workers Union today regarding the job losses, which are expected to cost the company around £100m in severance pay.
Moya Greene, the Royal Mail chief executive, said today that the job losses were about continuously improving the company’s efficiency.
“We need to do so in order to effectively compete in the letters and parcels markets,” she said.
“This is the best way to ensure the continued delivery of the universal service and the good quality jobs we provide for our people.”
Royal Mail, which was floated on the London Stock Exchange last October, has reduced its workforce by 50,000 roles since 2003.
The company delivers to 29m addresses six days per week, but with communications switching to the Internet, the annual decline in UK letter volumes has accelerated from 3.1% per year from 2004 to 2008 to 6.3% per year from 2008 to 2013.
Royal Mail today promised to conduct its consultation over the job losses “carefully and sensitively”.
“Deeply concerning”
The Communication Workers Union, which recently signed a collective bargaining agreement with Royal Mail that included safeguards for the jobs of its members, said today that it believed today’s cuts would be mostly among managerial staff.
The CWU represents about 115,000 non-managerial staff in Royal Mail.
CWU deputy general secretary Dave Ward said today: “Royal Mail’s plan to cut 1,600 staff would see major changes to the company and are deeply concerning. We understand that the majority of these job losses will mainly be head office managerial staff rather than postal workers but we will fight to protect as many jobs as possible.
“We are yet to see how many employees in CWU-represented grades will be affected. Our next step is something we will be discussing at today’s Postal Executive, however until we see detailed plans it would be inappropriate to comment further,” added Ward.
