Asda launches consultation with more than 4,000 staff on changes to roles and pay

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Asda has begun a consultation with thousands of staff over changes to their jobs, which is likely to lead to the termination of hundreds of roles.

Asda store

Asda has proposed changes to overnight staff working patterns

Asda, controlled by entrepreneurs the Issa brothers, plans to end overnight ambient and frozen shifts in 184 smaller superstores. Staff will instead work on ambient between 7pm and midnight, and frozen lines between 7am and 1pm.

The grocer said the proposed change would “mean more colleagues are on the shopfloor during opening hours and follows trials, which delivered improvements in customer satisfaction and product availability”.

If the changes go ahead, they could result in the “removal” of up to 211 night-shift manager roles and a change to the working patterns of approximately 4,137 hourly paid staff.

The grocer said its proposal “retains the number of hours available for colleagues to work in each store, but would see the removal of night-shift premium paid to these colleagues on top of their existing hourly rate”.

Additionally, Asda is proposing a 25% reduction in opening hours for all 23 in-store Post Office branches “following a decline in the number of customers using this service”. This will affect 23 salaried Post Office managers and 200 hourly paid employees.

Asda also intends to close seven of its 254 in-store pharmacies “due to low customer usage”, which would affect 48 hourly paid staff and 14 pharmacists.

Retail director Ken Towle said: “The retail sector is evolving at pace and it is vital we review changing customer preferences, along with our own ways of working, to ensure we are operating as efficiently as possible so that we can continue to invest and grow our business.

“We are now entering a period of consultation with our colleagues on these proposals. We recognise this will be a difficult time for them and will do all we can to support them through this process.”