With consumers spending less money, David Jones employees in the electronics, home office and furniture departments will have their hours cut in a move to keep costs down.
Staff will see their hours drop from 40 to 32 hours, however, David Jones chief executive Mark McInness was quick to point out that "no staff member will lose their jobs", as was reported on www.news.com.au
"None of our people has been asked to leave," he said.
The company was constantly reviewing its staffing rosters in line with sales revenue, he said.
"Retail is a cyclical business and we have to manage the company through peaks and troughs. But we are still forecasting a one to two per cent like-for-like growth for the full year.
"We are still seeing strong sales in women’s clothing, cosmetics, shoes and accessories such as handbags. The majority of our customers are women, and women will spend even when times are tough."
According to McInnes they did exactly the same three years ago when the company was experiencing a slowdown in retail sales.
David Jones has 10,000 staff across 36 stores of which 95 per cent are full-time or permanent part-time, the rest are casual workers.