Asos to create 1,500 new jobs in the UK over the next three years
The £3.9bn company said that the additional hires will be based in its art-deco headquarters in Camden, north London, with the majority of new head office staff having expertise in technology, merchandising and retail buying.
Asos is also taking on an extra 40,000 sq ft of space in the building, a former Carrera cigarette factory, and investing £40m in the expansion.
The job hires follow moves by Facebook, Google and McDonalds to boost their investment in the UK, despite concerns that Brexit might make the country less attractive to international businesses.
Nick Beighton, Asos chief executive, said that the expansion and recruitment drive had “been planned well before 23 June”. “We had a think about it shortly after and we are very happy with where the business has been positioned.”
Mr Beighton also told Bloomberg that Asos was considering opening more manufacturing plants in Britain over the next three to four years to take advantage of a weaker pound, which has made domestic production more affordable. Currently only 4pc of Asos products are made in its two factories in London.
Mr Beighton has previously toasted Asos’ strength as an exporter and said the fashion retailer would “prosper from a weaker sterling“. Around 60pc of Asos sales are made outside the UK.
Asos’s jobs boost follows criticism earlier this year of conditions at its warehouse in Barnsley, south Yorkshire, which Mr Beighton has consistently rejected.
The company has said that it pays above the living wage, does not use zero-hour contracts and regularly encourages staff to take breaks. Asos has invested £81m into the Barnsley warehouse since 2011 – where 4,000 people work – and the company plans to invest another £23m over the next 12 months.
Mr Beighton said that Asos’ latest hiring was a further sign that “Asos isn’t the big, bad wolf. What the unions have been saying isn’t true. We have invested in Barnsley and will continue to do so.”
Asos’s redevelopment of its head office is also part of a growing trend for offices to be revamped for a rising millennial workforce, which demands more flexible working conditions and more perks.
The new office will include health and workout facilities, a quiet zone library and cafes as well as a concierge service and technology bar, to help employees with their non-work related needs.
“Asos customers are 20-somethings and so are most of its employees,” said Nathan Lonsdale, partner from Spacelab, the architects behind the redevelopment. “Asos gets that a smart, young workforce needs a workspace that celebrates their needs and their talents.
“Flexibility and mobility are incredibly important when maximising collaboration in a dynamic working environment like at Asos,” Mr Lonsdale added. “The space will reflect the personality of the company and its bold ambitions for the future.”