Austin Reed employees learned of store closures from social media

Austin Reed employees were informed the company’s 120 stores would close and they would lose their jobs via social media instead of from administrators.

According to City A.M., an employee told the freesheet: "About 80 per cent of the staff found out about it on social media.The staff were absolutely in bits because they were given no warning."

A spokesman at Alix Partners, Austin Reed's administrators said: "We addressed the managers yesterday morning, and there was a communication plan in place. But social media just blows everything out of the water. We told people: this is delicate and difficult and unfortunate matter, and we'd like people to keep things confidential. But if someone decides they are not going to that - there’s nothing we can do. Unfortunately, it was out of our control."

Austin Reed began closing its stores over the bank holiday weekend, when 28 stores were shut. Some of the rents for the stores owned by Austin Reed were due on June 1st.

In most circumstances administrators would normally deliver news to the staff at the same time as the media, so that staff can inform customers in the best way possible.