The upheaval of a year ago when jobs were lost and branches closed at Your Move and Reeds Rains has resulted in improvements for both brands.
Parent company LSL Property Services said that the changes have been a “success” with original expectations surpassed.
The business has made the claim, despite the transformation coming at a huge cost for the 460 people who lost their jobs.
Altogether 900 jobs were impacted by the closures, with 440 assimilated elsewhere in the business.
Some of the staff were redeployed into Homefast, LSL’s conveyancing admin centre; others into the part-exchange hub in Nottinghamshire; some are now also working in the offices that became franchises.
The sweeping closure programme was announced last February.
As a result of the restructure, there are now 144 ‘keystone’ branches, created by the closing and merging of over 80 neighbouring branches to create bigger locations with larger teams.
A further 39 branches have been transferred to National Home Move, the new franchise business led by existing franchisee Nigel Favas and former LSL director David Newnes.
The pair have created an enlarged franchise business of 130 branches across the Your Move and Reeds Rains brands.
Before the changes, the average branch employed 5.5 full timers. Today the figure is over seven, while staff churn has decreased. The branches themselves are servicing territories that are on average 20% larger, and market share is up, says LSL.
Central services and systems have also been streamlined and improved.
LSL director for estate agency Helen Buck said: “We’re absolutely delighted with the transformation seen within Your Move and Reeds Rains during 2019.
“We are committed to the branch network and we have achieved so much thanks to the hard work and support of the many colleagues working in our business and I am so very proud of everyone involved.
“One year on I can confidently say that not only did we achieve our ambitions but we exceeded them, and as we move into a new decade our branches are well positioned for ongoing success.”
Comments (6)
This article amuses me because behind the spin the feedback is that all is not well within. Landlords not happy with being transferred from the northern admin centre to Southampton. Senior management there struggling to cope and customer care an issue. Consolidation only works when you provide a better more cost effective service which is not the case here. You get no more from this brand despite them being more expensive. A recent roadshow with lots of flash presentations just showed how little the two brands mix & how far away from the front the senior staff really are!
What a load of PR rubbish. LSL left the buoyant wealthy market towns I live near to and retreated to a less affluent town 60 minutes away. The result is Your Move and Reeds Rains are unheard of for 25 miles in any direction. What makes this poor performance worse is that Halifax Estate Agents ran these branches at a good profit for decades. At one time they could challenge Sequence Connells network. No longer LSL are a minnow in comparison now.
Cue CW acquisition…
I wonder whether the 900 people that either lost their jobs or had to move think it is a success?
Success by contracting volumes-nah
Great. We don’t need figures. Just a bit of spin promotion .