STAFF at Worcester's Debenhams say they were told they were being made redundant on a team Zoom conference call.

One of the employees, who wishes to remain anonymous, told the Worcester News that a manager called members of the team who work at the department store in High Street and read out a letter telling them they were losing their jobs.

The employee said: “We had to log on to a call earlier in the week and most of us left it in tears. Our store manager read a letter out telling us we were being made redundant. Then he just hung up. He didn’t answer any questions, he just left us to talk among ourselves.

“We were shocked. One of my colleagues is pregnant, another has only just recovered from a bleed on the brain, one suffers with depression and one lady has been with the company for over 20 years.

“In my eyes what they have done is evil. There are also staff in the store who only started in November and January that have been kept on. This has made me angry, from my experience it's last in first out."

The employee did not say how many members of staff at Worcester's Debenhams would lose their job.

Other Worcester Debenhams staff confirmed that members of the team were being made redundant and the news was broken via a team conference call.

A spokesman for Debenhams would not directly respond to the Worcester News' questions regarding the city's store, but did say the company was making staff redundant.

The spokesman said: “ We have successfully reopened 124 stores, post-lockdown, and these are currently trading ahead of management expectations. At the same time, the trading environment is clearly a long way from returning to normal and we have to ensure our store costs are aligned with realistic expectations.

“Those colleagues affected by redundancy have been informed and we are very grateful to them for their service and commitment to Debenhams. Such difficult decisions are being taken by many retailers right now, and we will continue to take all necessary steps to give Debenhams every chance of a viable future.”

Debenhams formally entered into administration back in April of this year. Geoff Rowley and Alastair Massey of FRP Advisory have been appointed administrators in the UK.

The Worcester High Street store remains open for business.

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