Dyson to axe around 1,000 jobs as part of global cost-cutting drive

Dyson, the British technology company known for its innovative vacuum cleaners, announced today it will be cutting over 1,000 jobs in the UK. This represents more than a quarter of its British workforce.

The company, which employs 3,500 people in Britain, including at its research and development centre in Malmesbury, attributed the restructuring to the increasingly competitive global market.

“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," said CEO Hanno Kirner said in a statement.

Kirner emphasised the need for agility in a rapidly changing market. "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.”

While best known for its vacuum cleaners, Dyson also produces air purifiers, hair dryers, and other appliances. The company began shifting manufacturing from the UK to Malaysia in 2002 and opened a plant in Singapore in 2013. In 2019, Dyson moved its corporate headquarters to Singapore to be closer to its Asian manufacturing and markets.

The company maintains that this latest restructuring is unrelated to Brexit, despite founder James Dyson's vocal support for the UK leaving the European Union. Dyson has confirmed its commitment to research and development in Britain, even after abandoning its electric vehicle project in 2019.