More Worker Cuts Coming at Gap

Gap (San Francisco) plans to trim its ranks by than 500 more employees as part of its ongoing efforts to cut costs and become more efficient, CNBC reports.

This latest head-count reduction will be larger than the 500 or so cuts to corporate positions the retailer announced last fall, a person familiar with the matter told the cable news outfit.

“Our goal is to flatten the organization, increase spans of control to create more robust roles and individual empowerment, and decrease layers to remove bottlenecks and make better, faster decisions,” Bob Martin, Gap’s Chairman and Interim CEO, told employees in a memo last week.

The cuts come after Martin told investors during a March earnings call that the apparel retailer’s staff has been “dampened by a complicated organizational structure, bureaucracy and outdated processes.”

At the time, the company didn’t disclose the total number of positions that would be cut as part of the overall restructuring but did note it was eliminating its chief growth officer position.

The retailer — which includes its namesake brand, as well as Old Navy, Banana Republic and Athleta — has had a tough year as it struggled with a drop in sales, bloated inventory levels and a search for a permanent CEO, CNBC noted.