Major shake-up at Bunnings as senior management roles are axed. What does this mean for customers?
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Beloved hardware giant Bunnings is making big changes to its organisational structure to lower shelf prices and improve customer service. However, this is not without consequence—roughly 300 jobs across training, communications and support services were cut before Christmas last year. Now, further redundancies have been announced, with the latest restructuring affecting senior management roles.
According to The Australian, the Wesfarmers-owned retailer is 'evolving' its strategy to slash costs, and this latest restructure is set to simplify the reporting lines for store team managers. General managers and area managers will be above store managers for the chain’s 352 outlets, while the regional manager role has now been made redundant. A Bunnings spokesperson has confirmed, 'The actual team members have all been offered redeployment to other roles within the business.'
While this is definitely a major shake-up for Bunnings, it hasn’t affected team members in stores. In season, the retailer employs roughly 53,000 Australians, including around 1600 in its Melbourne head office.
Of the changes, Bunnings Managing Director Mike Schneider said: ‘We regularly review team structures and resourcing to ensure we have the right skills and roles to support our team.’
‘We recently announced some small changes to our senior retail operations team to simplify our structure and leverage investments made in our operations, both in-store and in our wider team.’
‘This supports our low-cost operator model, ensures a stronger voice for our team, simplifies communication and enhances execution across our network. Post-COVID, this design will help enable deeper engagement with our store teams and, in turn, a more consistent customer offer,' he continued.
Members, this news might be welcome if you’ve ever experienced customer service issues at Bunnings. Hopefully, these changes will lead to more satisfied shoppers. Though a spokesperson reported a positive trend in their Customer Service Satisfaction Score (CSAT) over the past 12-18 months.
At its half-year results in February, Wesfarmers also reported a 14 per cent increase in net profit of $1.4 billion, so it’s clear that despite the restructuring and redundancies, Bunnings is still doing well.
While this is a bit of a shakeup, it appears that team members are safe.
Please let us know in the comments below if you know any further details about this restructuring. And if you’re a loyal Bunnings customer, we’d love to know about your experiences with customer service at the popular hardware chain—have you had any recent experiences to share with the rest of the Seniors Discount Club community?
According to The Australian, the Wesfarmers-owned retailer is 'evolving' its strategy to slash costs, and this latest restructure is set to simplify the reporting lines for store team managers. General managers and area managers will be above store managers for the chain’s 352 outlets, while the regional manager role has now been made redundant. A Bunnings spokesperson has confirmed, 'The actual team members have all been offered redeployment to other roles within the business.'
While this is definitely a major shake-up for Bunnings, it hasn’t affected team members in stores. In season, the retailer employs roughly 53,000 Australians, including around 1600 in its Melbourne head office.
Of the changes, Bunnings Managing Director Mike Schneider said: ‘We regularly review team structures and resourcing to ensure we have the right skills and roles to support our team.’
‘We recently announced some small changes to our senior retail operations team to simplify our structure and leverage investments made in our operations, both in-store and in our wider team.’
‘This supports our low-cost operator model, ensures a stronger voice for our team, simplifies communication and enhances execution across our network. Post-COVID, this design will help enable deeper engagement with our store teams and, in turn, a more consistent customer offer,' he continued.
Members, this news might be welcome if you’ve ever experienced customer service issues at Bunnings. Hopefully, these changes will lead to more satisfied shoppers. Though a spokesperson reported a positive trend in their Customer Service Satisfaction Score (CSAT) over the past 12-18 months.
At its half-year results in February, Wesfarmers also reported a 14 per cent increase in net profit of $1.4 billion, so it’s clear that despite the restructuring and redundancies, Bunnings is still doing well.
While this is a bit of a shakeup, it appears that team members are safe.
Key Takeaways
- Bunnings has eliminated a layer of senior management roles as part of a corporate restructuring aimed at lowering shelf prices to adapt to harsh economic conditions.
- The Wesfarmers-owned retailer's strategy is all about simplifying our processes and enhancing efficiency, which leads to greater customer service.
- Bunnings Managing Director Mike Schneider announced changes to the senior retail operations team to simplify the structure, enhance communication and leverage operational investments.
- Despite the corporate redundancies, Mr Schneider confirmed this would not affect the workforce in stores, and there will be recruitment across the store network.
Please let us know in the comments below if you know any further details about this restructuring. And if you’re a loyal Bunnings customer, we’d love to know about your experiences with customer service at the popular hardware chain—have you had any recent experiences to share with the rest of the Seniors Discount Club community?
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