“Recover Trust”
Galeria boss will rely more on seasonal workers in the future
08/28/2023, 12:19 p.m
Not so long ago, the insolvency proceedings for the department store group Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof. It is currently still under renovation. CEO Olivier Van den Bossche gives insights into how the company should develop in the future.
In order to keep flexibility high, the department store group Galeria wants to rely more on seasonal workers. The aim is to increase and decrease employment as needed, explained the new CEO Olivier Van den Bossche in an interview with the “Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung”. “A department store lives from the advice on the floor. That’s why we will hire 3,500 new colleagues by December – mostly for Christmas.”
He emphasized that the department store business is highly seasonal. “From October to January, for example, we need a lot more colleagues than, for example, in midsummer. The same applies to the weekdays,” he said. The frequency is much higher on Friday afternoon and Saturday than on a Monday morning. “In order to be economical, we have to take that into account more.”
Bankruptcy cost trust
The flexible deployment of personnel is also intended to be a reaction to current economic events in Germany, such as the inflation-related decline in consumer spending. “We cannot change the consumer climate. Many sectors are suffering from this. The decisive factor is how we deal with it. To do this, we have to become even more agile. More local product ranges and more flexible staff deployment are good examples of this,” says the CEO.
According to Van den Bossche, Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof will have 91 branches and employ around 12,500 people. Before the recent bankruptcy there were 17,000. The procedure drew criticism. “Of course we have to regain trust. That will take time. But I think that everyone feels the seriousness and conviction that we absolutely want to be successful,” said Van den Bossche. “The motivation is high. People want to go the extra mile.”