Royal Enfield will be shutting regional offices as part of cost-cutting measures
Royal Enfield will be going leaner in terms of regional offices as the Chennai-based motorcycle manufacturer has decided to shut offices in different parts of the country, such as in Bhubaneswar, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Jharkhand, Bangalore, Gurgaon, Chennai and others. This decision was taken as part of the company's cost-cutting measures.
The offices in the regions mentioned above are the company's backend offices, managing sales and inventory of stocks present at various dealerships. Considering the restriction in the number of employees who can physically work at these offices, shutting these regional locations and making the team work from home seemed to be a more viable option. Also, the fact that the nature of work that was being carried out in these offices was not critical and can be done from a remote location, made Royal Enfield take this step. While most of the offices have been shut, the locations where the company has a lock-in contract, it will renegotiate the terms for an early exit, mentioned Lalit Malik, COO, Royal Enfield.
Royal Enfield has confirmed that these measures will not affect its business operations in India and more importantly, all its customers will remain unaffected. Additionally, RE has also opened 100 studio stores, that will offer all the services of a showroom and post-sales but in a smaller format, costing one tenth of an actual full-fledged dealership.
The company has already resumed work at more than 850 sales, service and 425 studio stores positioned across the country. Adhering to government guidelines, RE offices, stores and manufacturing facilities were shut between March 22 and May 5, 2020. The company had gradually resumed work at its manufacturing facility from May 6 onward. While 90 per cent of RE's retail network is up and running, centres at select few cities will be open on alternate days or are functioning partially.