
Currys boss Alex Baldock has warned against the “potential unintended consequences” the government faces as it looks to update the UK’s employment laws.
The chief executive said the proposed reform, which will scrap zero-hour contracts and remove probationary periods to strengthen workers rights from day one, risked “damaging the flexibility that’s so important to colleagues”.
“The risk is that, far from boosting growth, these employment measures make it harder, riskier and more expensive to employ colleagues,” Baldock explained.
“We really need to make sure that these well-intentioned employment law changes have their desired effect, rather than holding back good businesses from what we want to do, which is to employ more and to grow faster,” he added.
The electricals giant has invested in providing flexible working opportunities across its organisation in recent years – with measures including the introduction of flexible shift patterns for store staff and the closure of its Acton-based HQ in favour of a flexible WeWork space in London Waterloo.
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His comments come as the electricals giant raised its profit guidance following “strong peak trading” over the crucial Christmas trading period.
Currys now expects its full year adjusted pre-tax profit to come in ahead of consensus expectations at around £145m to £155m, up 23% to 31% year-on-year.
“We’re quite used to running up the down escalator here, and we’ll carry on doing so,” said Baldock.
“The improving performance of Currys in recent years has happened with no help at all from the outside world, whether you’re talking about policy or whether you’re talking about the consumer environment.
“If needs be, we will continue continue to plough our own without any external help, but we would strongly encourage the government to think very carefully before overburdening business any further, because there are knock on the impacts on the economy, on growth, on employment, on hiring, on prices, on investment and on growth,” he added.
Baldock said the retailer was working hard to mitigate the £32m set to be added to its tax bill in April from increases to employers’ National Insurance contributions and National Minimum wage rises.
The chief executive slammed the National Insurance tax hike specifically, which he said is “a tax on jobs that doesn’t benefit the colleagues at all and actually depresses hiring and boosts offshoring and automation”.
Currys has introduced electronic shelf edge labelling to around 100 of its stores in the UK, which Baldock said “saves colleagues a much disliked job and improves the cost efficiency”.
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