Bacardi job cuts spread to London

Spirits producer Bacardi is cutting jobs at its Global Brands Unit in London, following the announcement last week that it was making around 15% of its staff in North America redundant.

The precise numbers of job cuts have not been revealed (Photo: Bacardi)

According to a company spokesperson, the UK job losses are due to the restructuring of some of the Brands Unit’s responsibilities, passing tasks on to the company’s international brands.

This restructuring “allows for greater alignment and faster decision-making and execution”, according to a Bacardi spokesperson.

Assuring that the job losses were “minimised”, the spokesperson added that people will continue to leave the company in the coming months, but that efforts have been made to retain some employees within the company.

They said, “We are still working with employees whose roles have been impacted in order to identify potential opportunities within the company.

“Where possible, we delayed the recruitment of open roles and eliminated open positions, so the number of displaced people was minimised.”

Last week it was revealed that Bacardi has begun the process of firing around 80 of its 600 employees in North America, while maintaining that “it is business as usual” at the company.

Citing a need to “meet the demands of an ever-changing global marketplace”, in a statement the company said that they “regularly adjust staffing – expand or retract – and business structure to best support business needs.”

The majority of cuts are being made in its sales and field marketing divisions, as well as limited cuts in IT, communications, marketing and finance, according to reports.