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Australian supermarket giant Coles will offshore hundreds of jobs to India as part of a major cost-cutting move, with staff in Australia set to be made redundant.
Coles chief executive Leah Weckert has confirmed the company will outsource hundreds of corporate roles across its marketing, finance, human resources and technology divisions through an expanded partnership with Accenture.
Under the deal, valued at hundreds of millions of dollars, local job losses could range from several hundred to more than 1,000.
Most of the affected jobs will be moved to India, while Accenture will take over the remaining roles in Australia.
Weckert confirmed the move in an email to staff on Friday.
'Some of our … team members will likely be impacted by redundancy. We recognise the impact this has on individuals and our wider team, and these decisions are never made lightly.
'Maintaining our cost leadership is critical in this increasingly competitive environment. It ensures we can continue to reinvest in the areas that create the greatest value for our customers.
'By drawing on Accenture's expertise and sources, we can unlock access to the world-class future capability we need, including skills, resources and talent to better support our functions, modernise our technology and accelerate the use of AI,' Weckert wrote.
Australian supermarket giant Coles will offshore hundreds of jobs to India
Coles has about 5,000 corporate employees.
The move comes just days after Qantas confirmed it was considering outsourcing parts of its marketing, finance, human resources and other back-office functions under a project known as Project IQ.
'Like all organisations, Qantas has been looking at ways to accelerate the use of technology and AI to help us modernise the way we work and deliver better outcomes for our customers and our people,' a Qantas spokesperson said.
'We have been exploring partnerships that have the capability to support us… but no formal agreement is in place and no decisions have been made.'
Qantas said it remained committed to providing employment opportunities in Australia.
The airline said it had already added 'thousands of operational roles' in Australia and would continue adding thousands more 'in the coming years'.
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