Date: Thursday January 31, 2019 11:36:18 am
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Staples Solutions Making Significant
Job Cuts At Head Office in Amsterdam.European reseller Staples Solutions is making significant job cuts at its head office in Amsterdam as its decentralisation programme gathers pace.By Andy Braithwaite
Amsterdam, Netherlands, European reseller Staples Solutions is making significant job cuts at its head office in Amsterdam as its decentralisation programme gathers pace.In a 25 January letter to key vendor partners, seen by OPI, Staples Solutions COO Jappe Blaauw confirmed that the company had recently announced a plan to “move most of [its] central functions” to the European countries where it operates.“This decentralisation is an important part of becoming a leaner, more efficient company that’s fit for the future. Importantly, it supports our efforts to make quick decisions and serve customers better,” wrote Blaauw.The letter continued: “We will continue to manage our partnerships with selected vendors at a central level and will focus on strengthening our sourcing capabilities. We expect little short-term change for those we work with. In the long term, it paves the way for a greater focus on strengthening our partnership.“Our commitment to customers remains paramount and we will continue to focus on helping them accomplish more in their workspaces, today and tomorrow. Our vendors, like you, are key in helping us in this mission and we look forward to continuing to build our vendor relationships in our new set-up.”Speaking to OPI at Paperworld earlier this week, CEO Dolph Westerbos confirmed that between 60-70 staff members would remain in Amsterdam, meaning that approximately 130 employees are being made redundant.Functions such as marketing and HR will now be handled by individual countries, but Westerbos said he had analysed “all areas” of the company as he looks to cut costs and drive efficiencies. In addition to the central vendor relationship management functions, e-commerce, IT and some pricing roles will stay in Amsterdam.The team will stay in the current Amsterdam premises. Even though the building itself is now too large, there are now co-tenants sharing the office space.“We are reducing our overall cost base and becoming much more efficient,” said Westerbos, while he confirmed that “a part of the budget that was sitting in head office is moving to the countries”.He added: “In order to create investment in customer experience and e-commerce, it is important that we remove much of the legacy costs that have evolved in our core business in areas that are declining and instead focus on our growth segments and the areas that are really key.”Westerbos also pointed to the need for the “traditional” office products industry to adapt and to the fact that vendors do “a fantastic job” in marketing their own products. “Why do we need to duplicate that?” he questioned.This decentralisation strategy at Staples Solutions is not a secret: in a Big Interview with OPI last December, Westerbos said that more power was being given to individual markets. These latest developments are a continuation and acceleration of that process.Staff were informed last week, and a consultation process is now taking place with a view to implementing the redundancy plan as soon as possible.Meanwhile, it has also been confirmed that Ingo Dewitz, the former Managing Director of German dealer group Büroring, is joining Staples Solutions from 1 February. In his new role, based in Hamburg, Dewitz will head up the B2B services offering of Staples Solutions Germany.
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