According to media reports in the UK, Asda looks set to announce a "new internal structure" today, with redundancies being offered to "scores" senior managers in their head offices.
The Times newspaper said that redundancies will affect around 5% of the workforce at head offices in Leeds and Leicestershire, which employ around 4,000 staff in total.
The cuts follow a review by management consultancy firm McKinsey, who were hired in February to asses the supermarket chain ahead of its new five-year strategy.
A spokesperson for Asda said: “Over 18 months ago, we reviewed our business after recognising a structural change taking place in the retail market. This led us to set a new strategy in 2013 which will see Asda redefine value retailing in the UK.
“Consequently, we have been talking to our colleagues for some time about the need for change. In the spirit of openness, we’ve let our colleagues know that we will be having some more detailed discussions with them this week about a new structure.
“Inevitably, this has led to some speculation but as you’d expect, we’ll have conversations about the details with all our colleagues first.”
© 2014 - European Supermarket Magazine by Enda Dowling
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