Asda has insisted that staff morale remains high as its in-store restructure, which has resulted in more than 1,000 redundancies, comes to a close.

The Grocer understands the last of the staff to leave the business as a result of the restructure went at the weekend.

Asda said the number of staff affected was the same as reported in July. In total, there were 1,360 redundancies as duty manager roles were stripped out and 5,670 new positions - made up of 1,662 section managers and 4,008 section leaders - were created.

Asda said the move had resulted in a net gain of 1,570 roles compared against the old structure.

An Asda spokeswoman told The Grocer the retailer was pleased with how staff had responded to the changes. “This is the biggest piece of change that Asda has been through in recent years,” she said. “So we are encouraged by the fact that our internal, independent research shows an increase in the number of colleagues who feel proud to work for Asda.”

She added the research had also revealed that more Asda staff felt there was open and honest communication across the business. “We know that change of this scale has felt uncomfortable for our colleagues,” the spokeswoman said. “As the new structure takes effect, and as we complete training of 8,000 colleagues and say goodbye to valued colleagues and friends, we will continue to work together to support stores so that colleagues remain engaged and feel justifiably confident about the future of our business.”

However, Asda staff affected by the restructure have taken to thegrocer.co.uk to express their dissatisfaction. “In the stores I visited the biggest observation I’ve made was the rock bottom morale shown by colleagues,” claimed one poster. “It seems like the soul has been sucked from these stores.”

Another said: “It will soon be over, we all leave on the 4 October and then we will see how the stores cope.”

 

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