GAME confirms cuts in staff hours
Shift patterns and rotas under review; retailer pledges support to those staff affected
GAME has confirmed it is to cut the working hours of some of its employees as part of a review into shift patterns and rotas within its stores.
According to the retail company, the majority of its employees will be unaffected by the cuts. However it admits that there will be changes for others.
"Over the last month we have been reviewing the shift patterns and rotas in our stores to ensure we have the right number of people in place to serve customers throughout the day," said the company in a statement.
"We're still going through the review process with our teams in each store, and this week have shared details of the new proposed hours for each store. For the overwhelming majority of employees, there has been no or very minimal change to the amount of hours in their contract.
"However for some, there may be more change, and we are working closely with everyone to support them during this process and period of change."
The high street retail chain saw sales slump by 18 percent over the Christmas period, while total group sales for the 49 week period to January 9, 2010 declined by 11.1 per cent and sales in the UK and Ireland were down 15.1 per cent.
Chairman Peter Lewis attributed the decline to the negative trend in the gaming market, combined with a strong comparative period.
"This combination of factors means that revenues are likely to decline year on year but our sales mix will continue to move towards higher margin new and pre-owned products," he said at the start of the year.