Best Buy Co. notified store workers this week that the retailer was cutting some jobs and reducing hours, according to people familiar with the situation, as the big-box chain adapts to a world where more shopping happens online.
The company has reported skyrocketing sales in recent quarters as pandemic-weary shoppers stock up on appliances, videogame systems and other electronics. Comparable sales, those from websites or stores operating for at least 12 months, rose 23% in the quarter ended Oct. 31. Much of the gains came from online orders, which nearly tripled in the U.S. in the last quarter.
A spokesman for the company declined to comment on the details of the job cuts. “As we have said before, customer shopping behavior will be permanently changed in a way that is even more digital,” said the spokesman. “Our workforce will need to evolve to meet the evolving needs of customers while providing more flexible opportunities for our people.”
Jordan Diaz, 27, quit working at Best Buy on Wednesday. “I was told I would be capped at 28 hours, which is not full time and thus losing my insurance,” he said. The Denver resident previously worked around 30 to 40 hours a week, earning health insurance for himself and his wife, he said. Some of his co-workers were laid off Wednesday, he said.
The company had 125,000 full-time and part-time workers as of January 2020. Best Buy furloughed about 51,000 of its workers early in April, including nearly all its part-time employees, as it closed most of its stores early in the pandemic to all but curbside pickup. In June, Best Buy began bringing back furloughed workers and in August raised its starting wage to $15 an hour.
