Morrisons cuts 720 jobs at HQ and adds 5,000 staff to shop floors

British supermarket Morrisons has announced that it will be cutting 720 jobs at its West Yorkshire head office, but will also be hiring 5,000 new employees for the shop floor, as chief executive David Potts continues his company-wide shake-up.

The Bradford based business, which recently reported a 52% drop in full year profits to £345m ($514m, €480m) has increased the number of back office bods at HQ by 50% since 2008.

Potts took over in March from Dalton Philips who was five years at the helm. The new chief wants a "simpler, faster and cost-conscious Head Office".

The staff that will be made redundant at the firm's base will be offered a role at a store "and some will be redeployed in other parts of the business," said the company in a statement.

Potts said: "We are focusing on the things that matter to our customers. That means having more of our staff in our stores, improving product availability and helping customers at our checkouts. We believe our customers and our staff will appreciate the improvements.

"To support this, we need a simpler, faster and cost-conscious Head Office and that requires some tough but necessary decisions."

Ex-Tesco executive Potts has already made his mark on Morrisons, sacking half of the company's most senior executives after a week in the job.

The five senior executives to go were: customer marketing and digital director Nick Collard, retail director Martyn Fletcher, logistics director Neal Austin, convenience managing director Nigel Robertson, and property and strategy director Gordon Mowat.