By James Simons-
Tesco is about to make 4,500 of its staff in 153 Tesco Metro stores redundant.
The UK’s largest grocer said changes to the way the stores operated would “serve shoppers better” and help sustain the running of business. Tesco said the stores were operating in an increasingly competitive and challenging retail environment.
Tesco boss Jason Tarry said the firm did not take the jobs decision lightly. Tesco is aiming to make £1.5billion worth of cost savings by 2020, with more than 10,000 jobs being cut since top boss Dave Lewis’ takeover in 2014.
It’s the second round of staff cuts this year. Last January, the giant company announced 9,000 job losses on its fish, meat and deli counters. This was on top of a round of job losses announced at the beginning of 2018.
Tesco said that changes to the stores would now include faster and simpler ways of filling shelves, with fewer products stored in the back rooms and more stock going straight to the shop floor and staff working “more flexibly” across the store to improve customer service at the busiest times of the day and in the right areas of the store “leaner” management structure.
“In a challenging, evolving retail environment, with increasing cost pressures, we have to continue to review the way we run our stores to ensure we reflect the way our customers are shopping and do so in the most efficient way,” Mr Tarry added
It is also making some changes in 134 of its 1,750 Express stores, where customer footfall is lower. Changes in those stores will include “a slight reduction in opening hours during quieter trading periods at the start and end of the day, and simplifying stock routines”.
The announcement comes as this publication recently began a probe into whether Tesco was cheating customers by selling disproportionately small sizes of cooked chicken for the same prize as much larger pieces.