Mike Cutt, the outgoing HR director at B&Q, has said he is leaving a business “more true to its values and more focused on its customers” after five years in the job.
Cutt is leaving the DIY retailer at the end of this month to become the new HR director at health and beauty giant Boots. He said his legacy would include helping to build a business that had a healthier structure with fewer layers of management, clearer accountability and more fulfilling roles.
“I’m leaving B&Q with some sorrow as I have really enjoyed being HR director there,” he told Personnel Today. “But five years is quite a long time in one job and I feel it is time to move on; time to let someone else bring new ideas to the role.”
B&Q has promoted its director of organisational development Martyn Phillips – recruited by Cutt from Woolworths three years ago – to the HR director role.
Cutt said the HR challenges at Boots would be similar to those he faced at B&Q.
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“Boots has a powerful brand and a terrific cultural legacy. It needs to continue to reposition these in a difficult marketplace,” he said. “I will need to adjust to a business that is larger, has many more, but smaller stores, and one that is older and has more tradition,” he added.
Cutt was reluctant to talk about B&Q’s recent announcement of 400 office-based job cuts. More than 200 jobs are to go at its head office in Hampshire and a further 80 regional posts will be scrapped, while 100 vacant posts will not be filled.
