Officeworks will offshore hundreds of local jobs to India and the Philippines as part of the retailer's $15 million cost-saving restructure, which had been previously flagged after the brand's sluggish half-yearly results.
Parent company Wesfarmers informed dozens of staff at its call centre in Western Sydney this week that their roles were now redundant and announced the team would be replaced with a centre in Manila.
Other office roles based in Sydney and Melbourne will also be moved to Bengaluru in southern India later this year.
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A spokesperson for Officeworks confirmed it had made a "difficult" decision that forms part of a "significant business transformation program, so we can continue to offer customers low prices".
"With rising costs, increasing competition and rapidly changing customer expectations, this transformation is critical to strengthening our growth, resilience and competitiveness in a fast-evolving retail landscape," the spokesperson told nine.com.au.
"As part of this program, some activities currently performed in our Australian support office will transition to a new global centre in Bengaluru to support our stores and support offices."
"This is difficult for affected team members, who will be supported with redundancy entitlements alongside redeployment opportunities and outplacement support where possible."
Officeworks employs over 9000 people in Australia and operates 175 stores.
The retailer delivered underwhelming half-year earnings in February, with a 21.8 per cent drop compared to the corresponding period, which Wesfarmers said was due to the one-off $15 million transition to a "low-cost operating model".
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"Officeworks commenced a significant transformation program during the half, with the business transitioning to a low-cost operating model to support low prices for customers and drive sustainable earnings growth," Wesfarmers said in February.
"The earnings result includes $15 million in costs associated with Officeworks' transformation program.
"These costs largely reflect the impact of restructuring activities and ERP-related costs, which are important initiatives for Officeworks' transition to a low-cost operating model."
Wesfarmers' high-performing flagship brands Kmart and Bunnings, meanwhile, helped buoy the company's overall revenue by 3.1 per cent to $24.212 million.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is understood to be a key factor in the decision to restructure Officeworks and offshore some of its departments.
Wesfarmers said it had accelerated its adoption of AI during the most recently reported earnings period.
Automation will help support team member productivity, driven contact centre efficiency and "enhanced customer experience," the retail giant said.
