M&S stops hiring after systems taken offline due to cyber attack
The company confirmed on Thursday that it has pulled all online job adverts.
Marks & Spencer is unable to hire new workers as the retail giant continues to battle disruption to its operations from a damaging cyber attack.
The company confirmed on Thursday that it has pulled all online job adverts from its website as tech experts seek to resolve problems on its platforms.
A message on the company’s jobs website said: “Sorry you can’t search or apply for roles right now, we’re working hard to be back online as soon as possible.”
On Thursday, the company had no jobs listed anywhere across its UK business despite having more than 200 job openings this time last week.
The London-based business employs around 65,000 people across its head office and stores.
A spokeswoman for the business said: “While we proactively manage the cyber incident, we are temporarily pausing some of our normal processes so we can continue to work hard on offering the best M&S for our customers and colleagues.
“Job adverts will be up again in due course.”
It is more than a week after M&S’s IT systems were first hit by a major ransomware attack.
The retailer is still not taking online orders and availability of some products in its stores was impacted after it took some of its systems offline in response.
M&S first reported issues over the Easter weekend, when it stopped taking click-and-collect orders and saw contactless payments impacted by the “cyber incident”. It has since restarted contactless payments.
The Metropolitan Police confirmed on Wednesday that it is investigating a cyber attack.
In a separate incident, rival retailer The Co-op shut off parts of its IT systems on Wednesday after an attempted hack.
It said some of its back office and call centre services have been affected but that all stores, including grocery and funeral homes, are trading as usual.
The BBC reported on Thursday that staff at the business are being ordered to keep cameras on and verify identities on all remote work meetings as a result.