The results of an Asda staff survey have left the supermarket giant facing a fresh crisis with less than half of its employees having confidence in the retailer’s long-term strategy.
According to the company’s annual survey conducted last month, just 47% of respondents expressed any faith in the long-term strategic plan of co-owners Mohsin Issa and TDR Capital, according to The Telegraph.
Only 48% of respondents to the survey said they could see the benefits of Issa’s ‘Future Programme’, which has been a long period of transitioning over Asda’s IT system from its former owner Walmart’s.
The IT switchover was widely blamed for thousands of Asda staff receiving incorrect pay earlier in the year, with some being left underpaid and others having to reimbursed by the grocer.
Just half of staff respondents said they believed that Asda’s management would act on the results of the questionnaire.
Asda said the survey provided “colleagues with an opportunity to share their honest thoughts about Asda and we value this direct feedback.”
A spokesman added: “Our overall engagement score, which measures the pride, advocacy and commitment colleagues have in their roles, exceeded 70%.
“While we are making significant progress in building a bigger and better Asda, there are some areas where we currently need to do better, and we are focused on addressing these.”
The results will likely heap pressure on the grocer’s dwindling executive team who are trying to turn around a business which has recently been losing ground to its competitors in market share. Asda is the only major supermarket whose sales are declining and it has been continually harassed by strike action.
Mohsin’s brother Zuber Issa has also now departed the business, after selling his stake in Asda to TDR Capital earlier in the year.
While the grocer has made a number of recent senior hires, including former Iceland buying director Andrew Staniland and former Lidl chief operating officer Matt Heslop, it is still in the market for a new chief executive.
Asda is offering a potential pay package of up to £10m to land the right person, but the search remains fruitless for the time being.
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