Sainsbury’s puts thousands of jobs at risk in major shake-up

SAINSBURY's has announced plans to shake up its management, putting thousands of jobs at risk in the process.

The supermarket is consulting with staff over plans that will see a number of senior in-store posts slimmed down and replaced by fewer management roles.

The changes affect staff in deputy managers, department managers, team leaders and store supervisors roles.

Affected workers will be given the choice of applying for new roles, accept a more junior position with a possible pay-cut or face redundancy consultation.

The Sun Online has contacted Sainsbury's to find how many members of staff will be affected by the changes.

The supermarket didn't give us an answer, but confirmed they are thought to run into the thousands.

Sainsbury's said the changes are "designed to meet the challenges of today's retail environment" and will result in more "efficient" structure.

Simon Roberts, retail and operations director of Sainsbury's, said the proposals  will introduce a more "efficient and effective structure".

He said: "We're proposing a store management structure that will deliver best in class leadership and, in many cases, will offer an improved reward package for new management roles.

"The proposals will introduce a more efficient and effective structure, designed to meet the challenges of today's retail environment. They will deliver cost savings to be invested in our customer offer and in our colleagues as they continue to provide the very best service for our customers.

BARGAIN FOOD Shoppers spend £15 less at Lidl and Aldi than big four supermarkets for large grocery shops

"Our intention is not to reduce overall headcount as a result of these proposals."

In October, Sainsbury's said it was axing 2,000 jobs in a major cost over-haul.

The changes affected workers in the supermarket's human ressource teams in Manchester, Coventry, Edinburgh, and London.

But the retailer is not the only one struggling to compete with the fast-growing discounters Aldi and Lidl.

Sainsbury's announcements comes just a day after rival Tesco revealed its intention to simplify operation, putting 1,700 roles at risk, in the latest effort by the UK’s biggest supermarket chain to cut costs.

It came after up to 1,200 head office jobs were cut in the summer last year.

The supermarket’s Cardiff call centre closes this month, with a loss of 1,100 jobs.

Hundreds of Asda workers are also facing a pay cut or redundancy as part of a cost-cutting plan.

Under the proposals, set to come into effect this year, 842 section leaders could be removed from store management teams.

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