Coca-Cola Europacific Partners confirms redundancies in Australia, offboarding finance roles to the Philippines

Embarking on a “restructuring”, Coca-Cola’s Australia-based staff are set to face redundancies as the global conglomerate seeks to offboard financial reporting roles to the Philippines.

In a move labelled as a “last resort”, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners has confirmed that it will be cutting staff in its Australian-based finance team, with the company estimating that the redundancies will impact approximately one per cent of its total employee footprint Down Under. Moving forward, certain transactional tasks and activities will be primarily managed by the company's Philippine-based ISS team.

In a statement to HR Leader, a Coca-Cola Europacific Partners spokesperson confirmed the changes, stating that the “transformation will see a reduction of roles in our local finance team”.

“Our ambition always is to redeploy wherever possible, with redundancies a last resort. We are working closely with our employees to navigate what this may look like,” the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson confirmed that the set time frame for the transition is expected to take place over the course of this year.

“Transactional tasks and activities such as reporting will be primarily managed by our ISS team based in the Philippines. This will help refocus the scope of our Australia-based employees to concentrate on high-quality commercial partnering, strategic planning, and complex analysis, ensuring we continue to deliver exceptional value to stakeholders,” the spokesperson said.

Just recently, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) was touted as a top employer in Australia by the Top Employers Institute, with Sally Byrne, vice president of people and culture at CCEP Australia, claiming they’ve created a “culture where our employees feel respected and empowered”.

“Cultivating a strong sense of connection and community – where everyone feels welcome to be themselves, be valued and belong – not only supports individual performance but also that of the collective… Our people are the driving force behind our business success, and so we will continue to invest in them and support their career growth,” Byrne said.

On top of that, CCEP recently announced its admission to the FTSE 100 Index – an index that tracks the performance of the 100 largest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE).

In its statement, CCEP acknowledged its admission to the index was a “milestone” for the consumer goods company, which operates in ready-to-drink markets across 31 countries, including Australia.

“Admission to the UK’s blue-chip index represents a significant milestone for Coca-Cola Europacific Partners,” said Sol Daurella, chair of CCEP.

The company’s chief executive, Damian Gammell, added that the inclusion on the index “comes after another solid year of delivery in 2024, which demonstrated the strength of our business and is testament to our great people, brands and execution across our 31 markets”.

Similar to CommBank, these redundancies for Australia-based employees seem to come at a time when the company itself is prospering, as a total of 164 jobs were recently cut from the tech sector of the bank despite them posting $5.13 billion in half-year profits.

The spokesperson for CCEP reiterated, however, that they are working with employees who will be experiencing these changes over the year.

“Once again, we are continuing to work closely with our employees to navigate this transformation and our focus – first and foremost – is on supporting them at this time,” the spokesperson said.