The IT department at Woolworths is experiencing mass layoffs this week as the supermarket giant announces plans to move hundreds of jobs offshore.
Woolworths began consulting with employees in the corporate office across the IT department on Wednesday, with hundreds of roles hanging in the balance.
A company spokesperson confirmed management will meet with employees at the corporate office in Sydney across IT and the HR and finance teams this week as the decision over who goes and who stays begins in earnest.
It is unclear whether the company will offer voluntary redundancies, make specific roles redundant, or if it will offer redeployment into other parts of the business for affected workers.
Transformation underway
A Woolworths spokesperson told Information Age the company is transforming its business.
The spokesperson explained a review of its contracts with offshore teams located throughout Asia for 20 years has led to a decision to expand longstanding relationships with managed service partnerships as the company reduces overheads across the business.
The company is focused on looking for new ways to remove complexity, increase productivity and drive efficiency across its business, it said in a media statement.
“We have for many years had teams located throughout Asia and longstanding managed service agreements in place.
“We regularly review these to ensure we are accessing the best global capabilities and lowering our costs, to ensure we are offering the best value for our customers.
“As one of Australia’s largest employers in a dynamic and competitive sector, we consistently reshape our business and find ways to be more efficient, to enable us to continue to drive growth and invest in local communities.
“We expect to open 24 new stores, creating approximately 2,500 roles in the year ahead across Australia and New Zealand,” the spokesperson said.
Jobs to go
The current proposals for staff cuts are focused on teams in the corporate office.
Woolworths employs approximately 10,000 corporate and support office staff across Australia.
The company would not indicate how many jobs would be impacted during the consultation process.
It has embarked on the consultation process this week and is therefore unable to comment further.
However, Information Age spotted 20 IT-specific roles currently being advertised on the Woolworths website.
This includes a senior solution architect, platform leader of digital experiences, senior full stack engineer, senior software engineer and a sound engineer.
The ads carry a promise that Woolworths wants to employ IT specialists with ‘bright minds, passionate hearts and unique perspectives connected by a shared purpose to join its company to create better experiences for a better tomorrow’.
“It’s that purpose that fuels our ambition to explore new ideas, make brave commitments and innovate better ways to meet the food and everyday needs of more than 24 million customers every week’, the ad declared.
Woolworths and Coles have faced soaring cost pressures and greater competition, resulting in management looking for new ways to reduce overheads.
Woolworths has also come under increasing pressure from international players gaining ground in the Australian market, including Amazon and Aldi, as customers shop around for the best deal on their groceries.
This has led to the company’s chief executive Amanda Bardwell slashing $400 million in costs to bolster company profits as the supermarket retailer battles inflationary pressures caused by the Middle East conflict.
Growing reliance on AI
The layoffs come after a focus on new digital tools for customers that leverage AI technology.
Woolworths has incorporated an AI-generated Watch List notifying customers of sales, Voice Product Finder showing real-time information about the location of a product and Snap a List which converts handwritten shopping lists into digital lists using AI technology.
Company chair Scott Perkins announced a Board commitment to address underperformance and his intent to ‘make every dollar count’ by simplifying the business to drive better outcomes in the most recent annual report.
In the report, he pointed to the company’s growing adoption of AI, new technologies and automation to streamline operations and automate processes to drive greater efficiencies, with 1,500 genAI use cases identified across the group.
Meanwhile, the retailer has come under recent fire for its Prices Dropped marketing campaign after the ACCC found that its promotional prices were actually higher or the same as the previous regular price.
