50 jobs under threat at B&Q

7:37am Wednesday 25th June 2008

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A QUESTION mark hangs over the jobs of nearly 50 workers at DIY giant B&Q's Segensworth call centre after bosses confirmed they were in consultation with staff over their future.

The Chandler's Ford-based home improvement chain aims to switch the work to a company in Glasgow.

It is considering outsourcing 45 jobs, but said it was too early to say what the outcome of its consultation would be.

Any losses would be the second blow to workers at the centre, after 100 jobs were axed in a restructuring of the installation service centre in March.

The losses strike a jarring chord with B&Q's recent naming as one of the world's best employers.

In May the company, which employs about 3,000 people in Hampshire, was named as the only UK employer to receive an award for employee engagement - a measure of workers' contentment - by business consultants Gallup.

Martyn Phillips, B&Q human resources director, said: "B&Q can confirm it is restructuring its head office based customer services operation based at Segensworth.

"Elements of customer services will be outsourced to beCogent Ltd, based in Glasgow, who are specialists in this type of service and serve many other well-known retail names.

This is the start of our consultation process. Import-antly, certain elements of our customer service provision will be retained in-house where only B&Q could add the necessary value for our customers; which we believe is right for our business and right for our customers."