Three leading agents have ruled out immediate job cuts in the wake of Jones Lang LaSalles decision to axe 9% of its staff and Chesterton’s announcement that it would make 65 members of its staff redundant, write Sean Cronin and Adam Coffer.
Insignia Richard Ellis chief executive Allan Froggatt said he was “surprised at the scale” of the cuts and he ruled out any similar redundancy programme at Insignia: “We usually find that it takes a lot more people to service instructions when things are quieter. You have to maintain a good team.”
The announcement also came as a shock to many of JLLs big clients, who will now be looking for assurances from the company that it can meet its obligations with a significantly reduced workforce.
Hammerson chief executive John Richards said: “This is very much a people business and, like any consultancy, if key people from JLL involved in providing business services to Hammerson were to leave, clearly we would review the competencies of the people proposed as alternatives.”
Atis Real Weatheralls UK chairman Greg Cooke, said: “I think companies that are focused mainly on market transactions will need to look at their bottom line costs.
“We and other firms have focused much more on consultancy work and over 50% of our business is now contract driven.
“We will certainly not be making any redundancies at the moment, but we will be keeping an eye on our costs.”
Another rival agent said: “JLLs problems are a result of failing to prepare for worsening market conditions.”
However, Knight Frank senior partner John Martin warned that JLL would “not be the last” big agent to lay people off.
He said: “We have been saying for months that we have been looking at cost-cutting and that is what we have been doing. It is what I would call good housekeeping.”
“As a quoted company, JLL has had to respond to the market more than we do, which is an important difference. We havent got to the stage where we need to take that sort of action, but it is something we have to keep an eye on.”
EGi News 10/11/01
