500 jobs are created by John Lewis as it centralises its call centre operations.

John Lewis has announced a number of new jobs will be created as it consolidates its call centres in order to “build on its position as the UK’s leading retailer for customer service.”

Two new call centres will be opened, the first in Glasgow, the other in the north of England – likely to be either Manchester or Newcastle; and follows news earlier in the year that the retailer needed to centralise some of its branch operations.

The Glasgow call centre is expected to open in June 2010, and will result in the integration of the three current operations centres in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow. The second call centre is likely to be opened towards the end of 2010

The statement from John Lewis said that although the current call centre jobs will become redundant, up to 500 new posts will be created across the two locations, with existing staff offered the opportunity for roles within the call centres or in other Group roles. 

Andrew Murphy, Director of Operational Development, said: “Having 25 separate call centres is not ideal in terms of efficiency and is also not the best way to ensure that customers always receive excellent service.

“The customer proposition will remain essentially unchanged, but the experience will be enhanced by improved information systems, telephone support over extended opening hours and the ability to bring different strands of best practice together.”