Leading confectionary firm, Nestle has announced its plans to move its UK headquarters from Croydon, after more than 40 years. Nestle will make no redundancies and will take all the 840 employees from its current Croydon office, to a new office in a business park, 15 miles away.
The announcement by Nestle came after the firm had been searching for a new head office in the Croydon area for some time, but couldn’t find any suitable office space, as a statement by Nestle, stated: “It had proved difficult to either redevelop the current offices in Croydon or identify a suitable new place.”
Croydon council are obviously disappointed about Nestle’s decision to move, as they tried it vain to keep the company’s head office in the area. The council created an attractive relocation package for the company, as well as offering to buy their existing building, in order to try to secure jobs in the area. But Nestle has reassured its workers that this is an exciting time and it will not be making any redundancies for the move, as Paul Grimwood, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Nestle UK & Ireland, expressed: “This move represents an exciting new chapter for Nestle in the UK.”
Speaking of the relocation, Mike Fisher, Croydon Council leader, put across: “Ultimately we have to respect the fact that Nestle are a footloose global company and can choose where they locate their business.”
However, Crawley Borough Council was ecstatic about the news after hearing that Nestle will be moving into their area.
But, will all of the 840 employees be able to commute to the new office, especially with the announcement of increased rail fares? Or will the move start an influx of people handing in their notices and joining the ever growing list of unemployed people?
