Marks & Spencer is reducing its workforce by around 7,000 over the next three months.
The high street chain said the COVID-19 pandemic had made it clear there had been a ‘material shift in trade’.
However the company is hoping that a ‘significant proportion’ of the workforce will avail of voluntary redundancy and early retirement.
The retailer also said that lockdown has meant more staff are working flexibly across its sections, from food to clothing.
Technology will also be used to replace some management.
M&S saw a 30 per cent year-on-year drop in clothing and home sales over the past eight weeks since its stores reopened.
However within the last 13 weeks, total food sales rose by 2.5 per cent.
“In May we outlined our plans to learn from the crisis, accelerate our transformation and deliver a stronger, more agile business in a world in which some customer habits were changed forever,” M&S chief executive Steve Rowe said in a statement.
“Three months on and our Never the Same Again programme is progressing – albeit the outlook is uncertain and we remain cautious.
“As part of our Never The Same Again programme to embed the positive changes in ways of working through the crisis, we are announcing proposals to further streamline store operations and management structures.
“These proposals are an important step in becoming a leaner, faster business set up to serve changing customer needs and we are committed to supporting colleagues through this time.”
A number of retailers have announced job cuts over the last few months.
Last week, Debenhams said it would make 2500 redundancies as part of its cost-cutting plan to survive the outbreak.
