Dive Brief:
- A Lowe's insider tells CNBC that the company is planning to lay off less than 1% of its current workforce of over 285,000 employees, due to internal shifting of responsibilities. This number is small in comparison to the some 7,000 jobs that were cut from Wal-Mart recently, and the announced closure of poor performing Macy's and The Limited retail stores around the nation.
- A shuffling and restructuring of roles, combined with a new staffing model nationwide will allow the company to free up resources that will essentially improve customer relationships and boost future revenues.
- Lowe's detailed its plans to use $3.6 billion in capital budget expenses in 2017-2019, with 45% going towards the new strategy to give customers more priority.
Dive Insight:
Just like many retail companies, Lowe's has had to take a good look at how they are serving customers in order to compete with the growing e-commerce market. During the 2016 holiday season, for example, Amazon outdid many other retail outlets, including Target.
How to staff a company, be it with contingent or full-time workers, has been a considerable question, particularly for struggling retailers nationwide. While the small layoff will hurt some workers, in the long run it may provide more jobs for others in the future as the new staffing technique takes hold and saves some expenses.
