Asda confirms new round of job cuts after worst Christmas in nearly a decade
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Asda is reportedly set to cut jobs following its worst Christmas in nearly a decade. The supermarket chain's chairman, Allan Leighton, announced last week that 13 regional manager roles would be cut under plans to reduce headcount and improve performance, The Telegraph reported. This comes after Asda saw its worst Christmas since 2015, with sales falling 5.8% during the 12 weeks to 29 December, according to data from analyst firm Kantar.
In the memo released to workers on January 7, Asda bosses said the restructuring plan would mean its supermarket and smaller convenience stores would be managed across 22 "sub-regions" - down from the current 30. This will mean fewer regional managers across the businesses with control over more stores. The memo read: “Change is never easy and unfortunately we have had to say goodbye to a number of colleagues.”.
A spokesman for Asda told the Telegraph: “We made changes to our field-based retail team regions to reflect the scale of our business across large stores and convenience. These changes set us up to serve our customers in the best way for 2025 as we deliver Asda Price and other exciting propositions.”.
Asda - which is the third largest UK supermarket chain - has been struggling since it was taken over by private equity firm TDR Capital and brothers Mohsin and Zuber Issa in February 2021. The supermarket chain sparked controversy in November last year when it made almost 500 members of staff redundant without a consultation period. At the same time, the new chairman vowed to "restore Asda’s DNA” by cutting prices across its stores.
