Rumours rife that hundreds of employees will be offered redundancy after staff letter leaked to press.
According to a report by The Sun on Monday, Homebase intends to shake up a third of its 302 stores across the UK with a reduction in staff working hours or voluntary redundancy.

The London-based newspaper saw a copy of the letter, which will be sent out to staff of the DIY giant. It read: "Our store is one of a number where availability of our customer-facing colleagues does not match our trading patterns or customer demand. Also, sales performance has meant we need to review our store payroll costs.

"Together, these mean a realignment and reduction in colleague hours. If the alternative schedule you're offered represents a significant change to your current terms and conditions, redundancy would be an option open to you."

According to The Sun, the letter states that changes will come into effect by the end of the month.

In response to the story, Homebase released a statement saying that the move is part of an ongoing customer service improvement programme, which began last year.

Following feedback from store teams in the first phase of the programme and customer research, the company said: "Over the last 18 months, we have trialled a realignment of shift patterns, which involved moving some customer-facing colleagues' shifts to times that better served our customers' needs and this has led to significant improvements in customer service in the trial stores."

Homebase said that it has decided to use the model across a number of its stores to ensure it is working to meet customers' expectations and needs.

The company added that it had been planning the activity for a while and that it will only affect a very small proportion of colleagues in the affected stores.

Commenting on the possibility of redundancies, Homebase said: "For those who are unable to find the option they need, we will enter into further consultation and will honour all their statutory rights should they choose to leave the business."