As part of a significant cost-cutting reorganization, Australian retail behemoth Officeworks has made the “difficult” decision to move hundreds of support positions abroad.
This week, a team in Manila, the Philippines, will take over for dozens of customer care call center employees in western Sydney.
In order to “support our stores and offices,” office-based positions in Sydney and Melbourne will also be moved in the upcoming months to a new “global center” in Bengaluru, southern India.
The affected positions, which will be moved in three phases to minimize operational disturbance, include employees of the technological support firm Geek2U.
Officeworks India has begun hiring for fifty positions in technology, sales, and analysis.
Officeworks’ parent firm, Wesfarmers, declared earlier this year that it has moved to a “significant business transformation program” in order to maintain low consumer prices while fostering steady profitability growth.
Officeworks reported $68 million in earnings for the first half of 2025–2026, a 21.8% decrease from the previous year. Wesfarmers attributed this to a one-time $15 million shift to a “low-cost operating model.”
The corporation stated that customer-facing roles will not be impacted, although it would not provide an exact number of jobs being shifted abroad.
As part of a significant cost-cutting reorganization, Officeworks will move hundreds of support positions to the Philippines and India.
The retail behemoth promised that customer-facing positions would not be affected. “This transformation is critical to strengthening our growth, resilience, and competitiveness in a fast-evolving retail landscape,” a spokesperson told Daily Mail on Friday. “As part of this program, some activities currently performed in our Australian support office will transition to a new global center in Bengaluru to support our stores and support offices.”
“An experienced provider in Manila with an ongoing presence in Australia is taking over the work currently performed by our customer service center.”We are still dedicated to investing in our local operations, and the majority of our team—including everyone in our store network—will stay based in Australia.
“This is challenging for affected team members, who will be supported with redundancy entitlements alongside redeployment opportunities and outplacement support where possible.” “As we open new stores to better serve our customers, we are also creating more jobs across Australian communities.”
Online, the decision was criticized.
It’s abhorrent that you recently decided to outsource your work. One person commented on X, “I’ll never shop with you again.”
For the first half of 2025–2026, Officeworks reported $68 million in earnings, a 21.8% decrease from the previous year.
“I’ll be boycotting Officeworks,” said a former client. They should go bankrupt if their goal is to eliminate Australian jobs.
“What a betrayal of Australians, who built and sustained your company/business for so many years; yet you turn around and stab them in the back like this,” someone else wrote. A national embarrassment.
In addition to the price reductions on over 1,000 products that were announced in February of last year, Officeworks just announced significant price reductions on 400 items.
The retailer has moved employees to India, the Philippines, and other Asian countries, following companies like NAB, Westpac, CommBank, Telstra, KPMG, and PwC.
Coles Myer founded Officeworks in 1994, drawing inspiration from the well-known US business Office Depot.
The brand currently has 175 locations around the country, with its first store opening in Melbourne.
