Asda says thousands of jobs at risk

Asda has said it plans to cut thousands of jobs as part of a new transformation “in response to the changing demands of the retail sector”.

The British supermarket chain said it is entering into formal consultations with around 5,000 colleagues potentially impacted by the proposals out of a total workforce of 145,000.

“If the proposals are enacted, the priority will be to move as many colleagues as possible into alternative roles within Asda, with redundancy the last option,” the company said.

The proposal includes the closure of the Dartford and Heston home shopping centres, impacting around 800 colleagues.

Asda also said it plans to create around 4,500 new roles in store-based online operations across the country in response to an increasing number of customers shopping online.

Asda CEO and president Roger Burnley said he knows the proposed changes will be “unsettling for colleagues”, but said ultimately the transform will result in more roles being created than lost.

“The last 12 months have shown us that businesses have to be prepared to adapt quickly to change and I am incredibly proud of the way we demonstrated our agility and resilience through the pandemic,” Burnley said.

“As customer habits continue to change we have to evolve our business to meet these demands and ensure our business is strong and sustainable for the long term.”

Billionaire brothers Zuber and Mohsin Issa and private equity firm TDR Capital earlier this month completed their acquisition of Asda from Walmart for 6.8 billion pounds.

A report earlier this week by The Times said the new owners are considering spinning off the company’s George clothing brand as they look to cut costs and spending.

Image: Asda image gallery