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High street shop changes could lead to redundancies, says TUI
Changes to opening hours in hundreds of its high street agencies could lead to redundancies, admits TUI.
The travel giant, which owns Thomson and First Choice, announced yesterday that it had entered a consultation period with staff at 270 of its smaller shops where it wants to push the opening time back by 30 minutes to 9.30am.
In 30 other small shops it wants to reduce trading days from six to five a week and to open from 10am.
TUI confirmed that this could lead to some compulsory redundancies but said it hopes staff will accept what’s on offer so redundancies are kept to a minimum.
It said the changes would allow the shops ‘to operate on a more efficient staffing model’.
"These proposals will ensure that the nationwide network of shops can be maintained whilst not compromising on the high levels of service currently delivered to customers, wherever they live in the country," it said in a statement today.
TUI said the move was part of its long term strategy to become an online driven business, which over the last five years has resulted in a significant increase in online bookings.
"At the same time the national high street retail estate is an important distribution channel that forms part of the multi-channel offering," it said.
"TUI UK & Ireland has conducted an extensive review to determine how this multi-channel experience should be offered to customers ensuring their service expectations are met in the most productive and efficient way."
Staff affected will enter into a consultation process from September 9.
The statement added: "Thomson retail staff are a valued and essential part of the business, and TUI UK & Ireland is committed to mitigating the impact on them if the proposed changes needed to modernise the retail operations are made."
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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