Buy It Direct, a global online retail company based in Huddersfield, has announced significant staffing reductions as part of its strategy to invest in automation. Nick Glynne, chief executive of the firm, warned that there were stormy skies ahead. He warned that the hiring outlook in the UK was “very grim” for the company. Buy It Direct now has more than 800 people on its staff. Roughly 150 of them are located outside the U.S., including a sizable customer service operation based in the Philippines.
The Denver-based company will be laying off at least 525 employees. This cut will impact employees in both white collar and blue collar settings. According to Glynne, these expected cuts are part of a pattern created by the constant pressure to invest in new automation technologies.
“So much so that our forecast is to have two-thirds less people, with the same revenue, same activity; two-thirds less people in an office environment within three years, and two-thirds less in our warehouse environment through investment in automation.” – Nick Glynne
Buy It Direct, owner of a number of online retail brands, including Furniture 123. The decision to downsize comes as the company navigates increasing operational costs, attributed to changes in national living wage and national insurance contributions that took effect in April. Plus, as companies with an annual taxable profits greater than £250m pay corporation tax of 25%, this provides further extraordinarily high-level financial pressure.
Glynne was quick to remind us that with the right technological innovation, we can change the employment landscape for the better. He noted that a combination of artificial intelligence for office tasks and robotics for warehouse operations will lead to reduced demand for UK workers.
“A mixture of AI on the office side, and technology involving robots and automation and mechanisation in the warehouse, means that the future for employing UK people is very bleak for someone like us.” – Nick Glynne
He pointed to a more recent and disturbing trend, the use of foreign labor. A lot of positions are fillable by equally or better qualified people who are more incentivized, since they have less job market protections in their home economies.
“You look at many of the roles overseas, just as qualified, more motivated in some ways than UK workers because there’s less protection for people often in those countries [from] where we buy in cheaper labour.” – Nick Glynne
A national scam Buy It Direct is not alone in its misconduct. At the same time, the UK government is busily reforming business rates and negotiating free trade agreements with the US, EU and India. These measures are intended to stimulate the economy and assist businesses that are dealing with increased costs.