TV TRAVEL Shop is
set to make a number of staff redundant in the run-up to Christmas as it
reviews back office operations.
An internal memo
leaked to Travel Weekly said more than 20 positions will be affected as the
company concentrates on improving its sales department.
Chief executive
officer Harry Goodman said: “We are making the company more sales focused and
are looking for a 25% increase in sales for next year.”
Staff will be able
to take up alternative roles in TV Travel Shop’s Bromley call centre.
But Goodman
admitted not everyone will want to move.
“A range of
positions will be available within the call centre, but they will not be
suitable for all the people we are talking to,” he said.
Goodman stressed
the redundancies are not related to TV Travel Shop’s tour operation, as yet
unnamed, which is set to launch in early December.
Staff were shocked
by the news.
One said: “This is
a move of breathtaking bad timing and leaves us all with the possibility of a
very bleak yuletide indeed.”
Staff said they
had received no communication from incoming managing director Seamus Conlon and
one suggested this was because he was aware job cuts were on the cards.
Goodman defended
Conlon, but conceded the timing of the announcement was poor.
“There is never a
good time. I’m always sad when anyone has to leave the company,” he said.