Bigger and bigger thunderbolts fly over Leroy Merlin. A company letter arrived

Leroy Merlin announced that he would not withdraw from the Russian market despite the invasion of Ukraine. This caused a great stir on the internet last week. Subsequently, the tense situation only increased.

According to “The Telegraph”, the French giant argues that it wants to expand the offer of its Russian stores to fill the gap left by other brands after it ceases operations in the country.

According to the newspaper, Leroy Merlin, who sells home and gardening products, pointed out that “sales have increased significantly” since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24. In a letter to The Telegraph, Leroy Merlin told Russian branch leaders: “We are ready for your suggestions regarding the increase in product and product range as some companies have disappeared from the market.”

“In the next three to four months, we plan to completely replace imported products with products made in Russia. – Company summary in the letter.

Let’s add that Leroy Merlin runs 112 stores in Russia and Decathlon has about 60 stores there.

The bombing has become an excuse for the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense to cover up the actions of the French.

“Leroy Merlin was the first company in the world to fund the bombing of its stores and its own employees” – We read on the Twitter post. According to the Ministry of Defense, this “Shocking Greed”.

The Polish branch of the company is also struggling. Posts on FB are full of angry Internet users who criticize the conduct of Holding’s headquarters and accuse it of supporting the Kremlin’s military operations. They have also called for a boycott of shops.

Others post their meaningful photos in front of French company stores.

However, this is not the end of the controversy. On Monday, we also learned that the network is the French headquarters Ukrainian staff cut off from corporate communications, making it difficult to help those in need and support Ukraine’s defenders in the Russian invasion – Submitted by the HR Director of the Ukrainian Branch of the Ludmila Diguba Network.

Currently, 800 Leroy Merlin Ukrainian employees are disconnected from all corporate communications of the company; some times We do not have the opportunity to provide humanitarian and medical assistance to workers in need – Dziuba said in a letter to the company’s management published on LinkedIn last week. He added that it was difficult to support “Ukraine’s volunteers and defenders” because of the disconnection of staff from the company’s organizations.

“Please restore the company’s communication system for employees as soon as possible. Do not endanger the helpless people! Could cyber security be more important than the humane and life of the employees?” Dijuba asked.

“My message was widely known, and on March 15 our employees were assured that access to the company’s communication channels would be restored, but that did not happen,” Dziuba wrote on Sunday.

Leroy Merlin has created a separate communications system for Ukrainian staff, although it is managed from headquarters in France.

Dziuba also recalled that Leroy Merlin’s Ukrainian staff had called for unity with Ukraine and the company’s owner, Audio Group, to stop doing business with Russia.

The Polish branch of the company is trying to ease the situation. “Dear, As Leroy Merlin Polska, we have an influence on what we do in Poland, which is why our actions are focused on helping the victims of war. We have been driving it since the beginning of the crisis, and we have been supporting the staff of Leroy Merlin Ukraine and other refugees who return to us for assistance. Every day, our staff welcomes refugees to their homes, and we provide financial assistance to both. We are allocating PLN 4.5 million for this purpose, a portion of which will be provided in support of various aid agencies. We operate here in Poland and have no influence on the operations of companies in other countries “- we read in the post on FB.