El Corte Ingles Costa del Sol Restructuring Could Affect 460 Jobs

El Corte Ingles Costa del Sol restructuring could affect 460 jobs in Mijas alone.
THE management of El Corte Ingles communicated to its staff on Wednesday, April 7, its intention to restructure the Mijas store in a plan that will result in a “significant reduction in personnel and commercial square metres,” according to Spanish daily La Opinion de Malaga. However, at the time of publication Euro Weekly News was unable to reach our associates at El Corte Ingles to either confirm or deny the report.
The store was inaugurated back in 2006 and the plan to downsize may affect up to 460 of its workforce in the Costa del Sol town.
A national ERE plan was agreed by the company a few weeks ago to compensate its 3,292 affected workers across Spain. Initially, staff aged between 30 and 50 years of age in the Mijas contingent will be offered a voluntary exit up until April 23, which includes a compensation of 33 days per year worked to a maximum of two annuities and a premium of 20 per cent of gross salary for those with the company 15 years or more, according to company sources. Those between 10 and 15 years will receive 10 per cent while people with El Corte Ingles between five and 10 years will receive 5 per cent. Depending on the number of people who opt for the voluntary severance plan, management may also be forced to impose the settlement plan on a second group of employees.
However, El Corte Ingles is committed to relocating as many staff from the Mijas store to other establishments as possible, particularly to their Malaga City and Marbella outlets. According to the Spanish press, the company owns the Mijas building it is currently operating in, which comprises of five commercial floors, four parking floors and several other businesses such as a coffee shop and travel agents, in addition to the El Corte Ingles store itself. According to company sources, the intention is for these other establishments to continue operating in the space, and the department store itself will remain open for the time being as a date to cease trading has yet to be announced.
Experts and union leaders say the rise of online sales accelerated by the pandemic, with customers being inundated with special online offers, has been one of the reasons to let employees go. The company is also having difficulty connecting to the under 30’s market and has not been able to expand beyond Portugal, leaving it more exposed to the ups and downs of the national economy.