HELSINKI, 2015-9-8 — /EPR Retail News/ — SOK is beginning statutory labour negotiations to enhance the efficiency of its Department Store and Speciality Store Chain Management organisation. The negotiations may lead to a maximum of 25 employees being made redundant.
In accordance with the competition strategy determined for S Group’s consumer goods trade in 2014, department store and speciality store trade within S Group is focusing on fashion, beauty and interior design.
“S Group is strongly committed to the department store and speciality store trade, now and in the future. The goal is for our department store and speciality store trade to be profitable, competitive and attractive to customers,” says Arttu Laine, Executive Vice President at SOK.
Over the past two years, S Group and SOK have worked to develop their department store and speciality store trade in line with their competition strategy, and they have resumed an upward trend despite the difficult overall economic situation.
“However, we need to implement further measures at SOK to achieve our targets. We need to improve our cost-efficiency and synergies between operations, for example. We are seeking to minimise the effects of these measures on our employees. Unfortunately, such effects cannot be entirely avoided,” says Laine.
The statutory labour negotiations concern all employees in SOK Department Store and Speciality Store Chain Management. The negotiations do not concern other operations of SOK or SOK Corporation, such as SOK Marks & Spencer Chain Management or SOK Food and Consumer Goods Chain Management.
The statutory labour negotiations will not affect the employees of the regional cooperatives or the services provided for co-op members.
The goal is to finalise the plans for enhancing the efficiency of the SOK Department Store and Speciality Store Chain Management organisation by the beginning of November.
Additional information: Executive Vice President Arttu Laine, S-Group Chain Management, Procurement and Logistics, tel. +358 10 76 81011.
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