Tesco plans to roll out its internal communication tool Yammer to all of its 320,000 UK staff following a successful trial of the technology in its London stores.

It is understood the September rollout will make Tesco one of the largest users of the private social network, alongside organisations such as the NHS.

Currently confined outside the capital - and a trial in Lincoln - to Tesco senior management, store managers and team leaders, the Yammer feed will allow all staff to post details about store activity, question colleagues elsewhere in the country when problems arise in store, and share examples of outstanding work. It will also be used by Tesco to make company announcements.

“How we communicate effectively internally is something we agonise on a lot,” Tesco UK MD Chris Bush told The Grocer. “Yammer is a great method of communication for us and we’re going to open up Yammer to all our colleagues across the UK, whereas at the moment it is open to managers, directors and leaders. We’ve been running a trial in London for a period of time for all of our colleagues. You get to see the way colleagues are talking to each other and it proved a real success for us.”

Last month, Tesco launched trials of a new staff room concept at its flagship Lincoln Extra store featuring a Costa coffee bar, digital menu screens, Hudl stations and a healthy menu, with a view to a potential nationwide rollout. It includes digital signage that will show Tesco Yammer and display store-specific messages.

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