Dyson has announced plans to axe 1,000 jobs in the UK as part of global restructuring efforts.
Cuts at the vacuum and air appliances manufacturer, founded by British billionaire Sir James Dyson, equate to almost a third of its 3,500-strong British workforce.
The company has offices in Wiltshire, London and Bristol, but moved its headquarters to Singapore in 2019, prompting a furious backlash.
Staff were told about the latest developments in an email on Tuesday morning – three years after plans to expand the workforce were announced by its owner, Sir James Dyson.
Chief executive, Hanno Kirner, said the ‘painful’ redundancies had been decided following a review of worldwide operations commissioned earlier this year.
He said in a company statement: ‘We have grown quickly and, like all companies, we review our global structures from time to time to ensure we are prepared for the future.
‘As such, we are proposing changes to our organisation, which may result in redundancies.
Dyson founder Sir James Dyson pictured in August 2021. His firm is well known for bagless vacuum cleaners and other air appliances
Sir James Dyson on a visit to Downing Street earlier this year in which he was said to have had a combative discussion with then-chancellor Jeremy Hunt
Sir James, pictured in London last year, was handed a knighthood for services to business in 2007
‘Dyson operates in increasingly fierce and competitive global markets, in which the pace of innovation and change is only accelerating.
‘We know we always need to be entrepreneurial and agile – principles that are not new to Dyson.
‘Decisions which impact close and talented colleagues are always incredibly painful.
‘Those whose roles are at risk of redundancy as a result of the proposals will be supported through the process.’
It is understood that the review was launched before the General Election was called by outgoing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in May, and does not relate to policies laid out by Sir Keir Starmer’s new government.
Company founder Sir James Dyson modelling a hair dryer in April 2016 – one of a number of products his British firm has produced
The Dyson vacuum cleaner factory in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, remains one of the firm’s three British sites. Its billionaire inventor found, Sir James Dyson, is pictured here in 2002
Prominent Brexit supporter Sir James has been outspoken about the Conservative government’s policies.
He previously hit out at the Tories for taking a ‘short-sighted’ and ‘stupid’ economic approach, with too much red tape and high taxes.
In January 2023, the tycoon said Britain was stuck in a state of ‘Covid inertia’ that was holding the economy back.
Sir James, who has an estimated net worth of £23billion, accused the Tory government of ‘interfering’ and ‘penalising the private sector’.
He also complained that the failure to get workers back to the office after the pandemic has ‘badly damaged the country’s self-belief and work ethic’.
Writing in The Daily Telegraph, Sir James said: ‘The Government seems intent on moving in the opposite direction with the introduction of suffocating regulation, greater interference with business, and thinking it can impose tax upon tax on companies in the belief that penalising the private sector is a free win at the ballot box.’
He warned: ‘This is as short-sighted as it is stupid. In the global economy, companies will simply choose to transfer jobs and invest elsewhere.
‘Our country has an illustrious history of enterprise and innovation, born of a culture which we are in the process of extinguishing.’
Sir James also praised the aggressive, tax-cutting economic policies of former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng and former prime minister Liz Truss – an ideology which resulted in both senior politicians ultimately losing their jobs, weeks after entering office.
‘I’m disappointed we’re not going for growth,’ he said this year.
‘I was hopeful (with Ms Truss and Mr Kwarteng). I thought they were doing the right thing – I’m the only one who did.
‘Kwarteng wasn’t raising taxes. He was going for growth, which I think is the right thing. It allows us to pay for things and generates wealth.’
Sir James was knighted in 2007 for services to business.
But he received criticism in 2019, when he announced the firm’s global headquarters were moving to Singapore from the UK – a move he defended.
He said: ‘It would be arrogant to think that we could design and develop products for Asia and Britain.
‘We can develop technology, but understanding what Asians want and what works in the market – we have to be there, we have to be immersed in it.
‘I can’t make things here and bring over all the components from the Far East here, assemble them here and then send them back to the Far East. That just doesn’t work.’
Sir Dyson also re-affirmed the company’s commitment to Britain.
In an interview three years ago, as the UK emerged from the Covid pandemic, he said: ‘We’re a British company – I’ve put a lot into this country.
‘I’ve invested about £2 billion on this site’, he said. ‘I’m taking on more people, I employ 4,000 people here, I pay a large amount of tax here.’
Dyson has paid a key role during the pandemic, working with scientists and Cambridge-based Technology Partnership, to produce 10,000 ventilators for hospitals across the country.
