Tesco confirms 9,000 jobs are at risk
Tesco has confirmed that 9,000 jobs are at risk within its business due to proposed changes to how it operates.
In a statement issued today, the supermarket also said it hoped to redeploy up to half the affected staff in other customer facing roles.
The proposed changes include closing fresh food counters in around 90 stores with the remaining 700 trading with either a full or flexible counter offer for customers. It is also simplifying how it manages stock, introducing a leaner structure for its head office teams, and closing some staff canteens as it looks to provide more self-service kitchen areas.
In addition, Tesco will be simplifying its merchandising operations by reducing the amount of layout changes to make shopping easier for customers.
Tesco said the plans are likely to impact around 9,000 roles.
Jason Tarry, Tesco chief executive for the UK and Ireland, said: “In our four years of turnaround we’ve made good progress, but the market is challenging and we need to continually adapt to remain competitive and respond to how customers want to shop.
“We’re making changes to our UK stores and head office to simplify what we do and how we do it, so we’re better able to meet the needs of our customers. This will impact some of our colleagues and our commitment is to minimise this as much as possible and support our colleagues throughout.”
Contrary to reports over the weekend, Tesco said it is not planning to make any significant changes to its bakeries this year.
