Tesco is to cut hundreds of jobs in a bid to ‘simplify’ the business, following in the footsteps of Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons.
The majority of the 400 redundancies are those working in the chain’s in-store bakeries.
Britain’s largest supermarket says it’s shifting away from scratch baking – think fresh loaves of bread – and towards continental deli-style products.
Management roles in Tesco Mobile phone shops and head office positions will also be reduced.
Bosses blamed the lay-offs on the ‘more competitive than ever’ market. The grocery giant boasted about its ‘biggest ever Christmas’ earlier this month, achieving its highest market share since 2016.
Tesco said it would try to find alternative roles for impacted staff.
Tesco UK CEO Matthew Barnes said: ‘These are difficult decisions affecting our colleagues, but we believe they are necessary to enable us to invest in what matters most to our customers.
‘Our priority is to support impacted colleagues, and we will do everything we can to help them find alternative roles within our business. Today, we have almost 1,000 vacancies available.’
Separately, the retailer will soon begin talks with staff at Snodland Distribution Centre in Kent after announcing it will close the warehouse. Snodland workers will be offered new jobs at a new distribution centre in Aylesford.
Tesco is the latest grocer to cut countless jobs. Rival Sainsbury’s unveiled plans to cut 3,000 jobs last week as part of a similar push to ‘simplify’.
Morrisons is also axing more than 200 jobs, while Asda is cutting 13 regional managers.
Tesco shed off more than 20,000 roles between 2014 and 2024. The retailer currently employs 311,000 in the UK and Ireland.
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