Edinburgh jobs: 150 redundancies as clothing retailer H&M closes call centre at Waverley Gate
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The company said the centre at Waverley Gate would shut by the end of the year. It blamed increased competition, operational costs and changing customer behaviour.


The Evening News reported in August that jobs were under threat because H&M planned to to wind up its call centre operations in the Capital when the lease at Waverley Gate runs out in March next year. One worker claimed at the time that staff could have been kept on, working from home, but instead the company would give the work to “outsourced agents”.
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Hide AdDeputy First Minister and Economy Secretary Kate Forbes met company bosses after the closure plans emerged and asked them to look at alternative options to redundancies.
On Monday H&M confirmed the closure but said that the number of redundancies had been reduced through redeployment, staff taking other roles elsewhere and others deciding to leave voluntarily,
Operations at the call centre will cease from 14 December before the site closes in March 2025.
In a statement, H&M said: “Having looked into the scope of our customer service set-up, increased competition in the market, our customers changing behaviours and expectations and operational costs, we have made the difficult decision to proceed with the proposed closure of our customer service site in Edinburgh by the end of the year.
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Hide Ad“These decisions are not made lightly and unfortunately the closure will result in valued colleagues leaving the company.
“As the process has continued, the number of affected colleagues has reduced through securing alternative roles through redeployment, as well as colleagues securing alternative employment elsewhere and electing to leave voluntarily. However, 150 colleagues will be leaving the company by the end of the year.”
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