About a hundred employees throughout the head office and business functions, which include all those who experienced been given occupation delivers at the corporation, have been allow go. The corporation has also introduced a temporary ban on more recruitment. 

In other places, EWM Group has lessened hours for remaining staff members and warned that it could cut down salaries by up to 50% in the coming months. The corporation employs 25,000 people today.

A spokesman for EWM Group explained: “Like a lot of other large-street retailers, we are currently enduring a significant reduction in footfall on the large street. This collapse in footfall has in particular impacted our core in excess of-60s shoppers, who have been explicitly advised to self-isolate and stay at property by the authorities.

“To put together properly now we opened a session with our employees about shifting to flexible doing work hours from subsequent 7 days as a way to make certain that we can restrict the impact on the business, the workforce and, most importantly of all, safeguard as a lot of jobs as probable.

“This suggestion was mentioned with all our employees now, and was unanimously agreed. We have not taken any ultimate decisions about no matter if we will go to lessened doing work hours still as this is a quite changeable and quick-shifting policy ecosystem, and we are observing both equally the large street and authorities carefully. We are next all the authorities bulletins carefully to uncover the very best way to assist our workforce.

“Sadly, as portion of these preparations, we have also made a small variety of redundancies throughout the Group, exactly where people today have been quite just lately hired or were being because of to start out quite soon. We have also set a ban on more recruitment in the business, as we operate to safeguarding as a lot of jobs as probable.”

Before this year collapsed retailer Bonmarché was offered to EWM’s Peacocks. The corporation obtained most of Bonmarché’s property, which include inventory and all-around two hundred suppliers. However, it is understood that a offer has continue to not been done on the remaining 70 suppliers.