IKEA, the Swedish furniture giant, has announced its plans on cutting 7,500 jobs around the world. Next two years, the restructuration should begin, said the head of HR for IKEA Sweden.
IKEA is going to create 11,500 new jobs around the world in the coming two years, however, such a restructuration isn’t possible without losses. On Wednesday, head of HR for Ikea Sweden announced cutting 7,500 jobs in the same period. the job instruction will be changed, the new types of jobs will be available in both IKEA and Ingka.
In Sweden, 650 jobs would be cut, while the most affected offices will be those in Malmö (220), Helsingborg (200) and Älmhult (100), with the remaining 80 job cuts taking place across the country.
“As soon as we know which employees will be affected we will, in accordance with our values and together with the union, support each individual as much as we can in the hope to find the best possible solution for the next step, inside or outside Ikea,” said Karin Bergman, HR head.
IKEA acts globally
Being operating in 30 countries, IKEA employs 160,000 persons worldwide. The upcoming two-year-long period of restructuration becomes a time of changes and unclearness. In fact, it is unclear how the roles will be distributed across the different countries the furniture giant operates in. According to Håkan Svedman, Country Manager of Ikea Sweden, after 75 years of market experience, IKEA needs to look at what skills exist today and what will be needed in the future.
What that means specifically is that Ikea needs to go from a traditional business model to a more digital one, and will make “extensive investments in digitalization and sustainability” as well as opening new department stores and city shops, the furniture giant explained in a statement.
