Dyson to cut almost a third of its UK workforce

Sir James Dyson’s gadget empire is to axe almost a third of its British workforce as it battles against fierce competition.

In an announcement on Tuesday, the billionaire inventor’s company said it was proposing to lay off an estimated 1,000 of its 3,500 UK-based employees.

Dyson’s chief executive, Hanno Kirner, said the “painful” redundancies had been decided following a review of worldwide operations that was commissioned earlier this year.

It is understood the review was launched before the general election was called in May and does not relate to policies laid out by the new Labour government.

The move comes after Singapore-headquartered Dyson abandoned efforts to develop an electric car and launched a pair of noise-cancelling, air-purifying headphones that some critics have claimed make the wearer “look like Hannibal Lecter”.

Dyson’s Zone Absolute headphones – which feature a mask that covers the user’s mouth – initially went on sale at £819.99 last year but have since had their price reduced to £579.99. 

Sales at Dyson Ltd, the UK arm of the business best known for bagless vacuum cleaners, hair dryers and heaters, fell 10pc to £376m in 2022, the most recent year for which accounts are available on Companies House.

That same year, global sales rose from £6bn to £6.5bn, according to the company. 

The next year, revenues hit £7.1bn despite the impact of closing its Russian business and supply chain disruptions.

It was not immediately clear whether jobs would also be cut in other overseas parts of the business on Tuesday, with the company also employing some 2,000 people in Singapore.

The job cuts in the UK will fall on the company’s sprawling campus in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, which will remain a major research site and the home of the Dyson Institute.

Hanno Kirner, Dyson’s chief executive, said: “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. 

“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. 

“Decisions which impact close and talented colleagues are always incredibly painful. 

“Those whose roles are at risk of redundancy as a result of the proposals will be supported through the process.”

The decision comes just months after Sir James publicly railed against the former Conservative government for taking a “short-sighted” and “stupid” economic approach, under which “growth has become a dirty word and an idea too risky to contemplate”.

Writing for The Telegraph at the time, he said: “Dyson’s growth happened largely despite government, rather than because of it. It required the hard work and innovation of our engineers, as well as financial risk-taking. 

“Yet the government continues to interfere blindly with job-creating businesses, something it knows nothing about.”