Thetford staff wait to hear about jobs

Staff working for a High Street chain discount store in Thetford were this week waiting to hear how many jobs are being axed as the company slashes its operating costs.

Staff working for a High Street chain discount store in Thetford were this week waiting to hear how many jobs are being axed as the company slashes its operating costs.

In November Wilkinson's management announced that it was to reveal in February this year how many redundancies would be made across its 312 stores in England and Wales.

It has stressed that the job cuts are not related to trading conditions on the High Street where it was experiencing “robust trading”.

It operates stores throughout the region, including King's Lynn, Thetford, Ely, Great Yarmouth, Gorleston and Dereham.

This week the company, which employs a total of 25,000 staff, issued a new statement in response to a Times request and revealed that, following consultation, the company had now briefed employees likely to be affected.

But it stressed the company was committed to minimising impacts on affected employees wherever possible and were adopting a package of job-saving measures.

These include reduction in overtime working, a freeze on recruitment of new staff, finding vacant positions at other stores within travelling distance and seeking voluntary redundancies where necessary.

But the company insists its job cuts are a result of the introduction of a new CPR stock control and handling system. The system reduces the number of times stock needs to be handled in store as well as the volume of stock a branch holds.