LONDON: Sainsbury’s is to cut 800 jobs in its stores as part of plans to save £500m over the next three years.
The supermarket, which axed 500 head office jobs in January, said it would be cutting department and deputy manager positions in some stores. It is also replacing night shifts with early morning and evening shifts in some stores to improve product availability.
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Roger Burnley, retail and operations director, said: “These are exceptionally difficult decisions to make and we have not taken them lightly … We set out very clearly last year that we have to reflect the changes in when and how our customers are shopping. These proposals will help us maintain and improve customer service by having more colleagues on hand and well-replenished shelves at all times.”
The move by Sainsbury’s follows similar decisions by Morrisons and Asda, which cut thousands of store management roles last year, while Tesco is finalising thousands of similar job cuts this month. Tesco and Morrisons have also added more shop-floor staff in an attempt to boost service.
Sainsbury’s has begun consultation in more than 100 stores about the way they are restocked overnight. More than 500 roles will be affected, but the company said many night-shift workers could be redeployed or moved to nearby stores.
