Aldi’s head office jobs cull is the result of the discounter outsourcing roles to third-party companies in eastern Europe and India.
The discounter has outsourced jobs in finance and accounting, human resources and buying including non-food, with a focus on administrative roles, a source with knowledge of the arrangement has told The Grocer.
It is understood Aldi had planned to outsource the roles to lower-wage countries for about two years before the restructure at its Atherstone head office emerged last week.
The supermarket is set to do the same in other countries where it operates.
Up to 350 jobs are at risk in the restructure of its head office in the UK, Aldi confirmed last week.
“To support our continued growth and offer the best experience to our customers, we are consulting over proposals to restructure some head office teams,” said an Aldi spokesperson.
“No customer-facing roles are affected, and no final decisions will be made until the consultation process is complete.
“We are committed to supporting our colleagues throughout this process. Wherever possible, we will seek to redeploy affected colleagues within the business.”
Aldi has not commented on outsourcing the roles.
Last week’s news saw the discounter join Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Morrisons in the list of supermarkets announcing job cuts in recent weeks.
However, unlike many job cuts elsewhere in retail, the long-planned nature of Aldi’s suggests they have little to do with additional costs placed on the sector in the autumn budget, which include an increase in employers’ National Insurance and the national living wage from April.
In January, Sainsbury’s said it was axing 3,000 roles as it shuts its remaining cafés and closes patisserie and pizza counters, while Tesco said it was cutting 400 jobs across stores and head office management as part of an efficiency programme to “simplify” the business.
The same month, Morrisons axed 200 from its people team as part of an efficiency savings plan. The supermarket’s CEO Rami Baitiéh also launched an outspoken attack on the planned tax increases, saying it left no option but to look at major cost-cutting measures.
On Saturday, Aldi increased entry-level hourly store worker pay from £13.65 to £14.05 in London and from £12.40 to £12.75 elsewhere in the UK. It makes Aldi the highest-paying supermarket in London and the joint-highest-paying with Lidl across the rest of the UK.
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