Steljes confirms 12 redundancies, seeks 11 new hires

Restructuring refocuses distributor on strongest markets and growth

Distributor Steljes has confirmed that 12 staff have been laid off as a result of their restructuring, with 11 new roles still to fill.

Martine Dodwell-Bennett, sales and marketing director at Steljes, said that while the overall structure of the business has not changed, the balance of roles within it required a rethink that would nurture further growth.

"The redundancies were predominantly roles targeting the education market. Those people either did not apply for another role at Steljes or were not suitable for other roles. We have 11 roles left that we are advertising to fill," she said.

Some 19 staff were originally at risk of redundancy, and 16 new roles were created in total. As reported in CRN, the restructuring was needed to reflect the changes in public sector opportunities. Growth in specific verticals and product lines is getting extra focus.

"For example, we are looking for a business development manager for corporate. That role obviously required expertise in that sector, so we were unable to fill it with an existing staff member," confirmed Dodwell-Bennett.

The Bagshot distributor's Smart interactive technologies business is still growing, she said, but in a different direction, with more sales coming from the corporate sector. It is also growing its rentals business.

"But the education market is not by any means declining," she added.

For example, 221 academies are to be built nationwide. So Steljes will continue to target opportunities in the education sector, albeit in ways that reflect the changes to procurement, she said.

"We are targeting more growth in the south, and we will be extending our reach through our channel partners into education," said Dodwell-Bennett. "We are relying on our partners to grow demand for us, more than ever before."

The Steljes vacancies as of 28 March included a bid desk executive, business manager for connected business, an accountant, a business development manager, a commercial manager for the Smart account, a southern region external account manager, a rentals account manager, an external key account manager for ICT partners, and comparable internal account manager roles.