IKEA is preparing another round of job cuts. Inter IKEA, the company responsible for the brand’s franchise system, supply operations and part of its global production structure, plans to lay off around 850 employees worldwide. The company explains the decision as a need to simplify its organization, reduce costs and speed up decision-making at a time of weaker consumer demand.
From the perspective of Central Europe, the key point is that the company has not officially stated how many of the 850 global job cuts will affect the region. What is known, however, is that in Poland — one of IKEA’s key production bases — job reductions had already been announced at IKEA Industry plants. Around 160 people are expected to lose their jobs in Goleniów, and up to 240 people in Wielbark. Together, this means up to 400 jobs at risk in Poland.
This means that, for Central Europe, the confirmed scale of layoffs currently known from available announcements and information from labour offices concerns mainly Poland. At present, it is possible to speak of up to 400 jobs at risk in Polish IKEA Industry plants, although it is not clear whether this figure is fully included in the latest global pool of 850 layoffs or whether it is partly a separate restructuring process.
The reasons are similar in both cases: falling orders, rising costs and pressure to improve efficiency. In Wielbark, the layoffs are expected to affect both production and administrative staff. The plant employs around 1,500 people, which means that a reduction of up to 240 positions would be strongly felt locally.
The cuts at IKEA are part of a broader crisis in the furniture industry. In Poland, manufacturers have for months been reporting weaker demand, cost pressures and production cuts. In Goleniów, the reduction is expected to affect a plant specializing in solid wood furniture production, where around 160 employees may leave out of a workforce of about 580.
Globally, IKEA is also struggling with changes in its operating model. The group is moving away from some traditional large-format locations in favour of smaller urban formats, while at the same time trying to lower prices to attract customers who are cutting back on spending. Inter IKEA employs around 27,500 people, meaning that the planned 850 layoffs amount to a reduction of about 3 percent of the workforce in this part of the group.
For Poland and Central Europe, the issue may be particularly significant because the region has long played an important role in IKEA’s production chain. For now, however, the company has not presented a regional map of the layoffs. The most concrete figure that can currently be indicated for Central Europe is up to 400 people in Poland — 160 in Goleniów and 240 in Wielbark.
