LUXURY yacht firm Sunseeker has confirmed 240 of its Poole employees will lose their jobs by Friday, less than a week before Christmas Day.

Further job losses are expected as the company works to slash its workforce by another 60 employees, it is believed.

Earlier this year the boat building business which employs around 2,500 people in Poole announced it was streamlining ‘non-core’ activities, and as a result 300 staff would be made redundant in the town.

This 45-day consultation was announced at the end of October, but since then disgruntled workers have contacted the Daily Echo criticising the company for its handling of the process.

One employee – who asked not to be named – described current morale as “rock bottom” and slammed the firm for “failing to get essential information to employees.”

This worker says he’s among a number of staff due to leave Sunseeker next Monday, before waiting the next day to be told if they’ve got jobs to go back to.

“How they’re going to contact us, we just don’t know,” said the worker.

“But I can guarantee it won’t be face-to-face. Morale has been at rock bottom recently, don’t get me wrong everyone here is a professional and we’ve been carrying on with our work as normal.

“But it has been a ridiculous situation and hardly anyone affected seems to have had the information they deserve. We’ve been treated like mushrooms – kept in the dark and fed on rubbish.”

Sunseeker declined to go into details about how the consultation has been carried out, but it has confirmed the number of jobs affected remains in line with its initial 300 projection.

A company statement, released on Wednesday said: “Sunseeker can confirm 240 employees will have left the business by Friday 19 December, the vast majority coming from voluntary redundancies and natural leavers.”

However, the firm says more voluntary redundancies may be accepted “in order to limit the need for compulsory redundancies.”

The company, which welcomed the appointment of its new chief executive Phil Popham earlier this month, insists skilled craftsmen on the shop floor remain key to its business and the restructuring has had a minimal impact on boat-building activities.

The statement continued: “The overall outlook for the business remains positive and the board believes Sunseeker is now in the best shape possible to maintain its strong position at the forefront of the global leisure marine industry from our base in Poole.”