Tesco must be careful not to undermine its turnaround by damaging morale

Thousands of Tesco staff face tough times as talks on the future of their jobs begin.

Whereas four years ago all the talk was of how its big supermarkets could be reinvented as ‘destinations’, it is now obvious that much of this ‘recalibration’ will be about slimming down operations made increasingly obsolete by the shift to online.

Sadly, that means many GM staff may not have a job as Tesco rationalises its non-food range. So where will this stop?

In February, we revealed leaked documents showing Tesco planned as many as 39,000 job losses due to new shopping patterns and the impact of rising costs such as the national living wage. It argued at the time this was just scenario planning and the suspicion is that it was a worst case one. However, it also said then it had no plans for further job losses among staff. Just over six months later that is looking increasingly unlikely.

Let’s hope most workers find new jobs. While it will be hard for them to accept it, the moves are driven by commercial common sense (Tesco will suffer more if it allows its big stores to become white elephants) but Tesco must also ensure it doesn’t undermine its turnaround by losing vital morale on the shop floor.