Meeting the growing demand for rapid delivery service Whoosh is proving “a nightmare” for Tesco staff, who are venting on online forums that being expected to handle the influx of orders alongside their daily tasks is “a piss-take”.
Several have turned to Reddit and other forums to offload about the pressure they are under to pick and pack orders, while continuing to serve in-store customers and restock. One reported being in tears after a nearby store’s Whoosh orders were turned off and diverted to their understaffed store.
“Whoosh is the absolute worst thing to happen to Express stores… None of our stores have enough staff to meet the demand of Whoosh and work stock and still maintain sanity,” one Tesco worker complained.
Another said: “People ordering 50-plus items, multiple times a day, every day, but Tesco expect us to still carry on the way we were before. Would love to see area managers doing a week’s shift in Express with the minimal staffing we have and see what their expectations are after.”
Tesco launched Whoosh – which offers customers a curated list of 2,500 to 4,500 essential products for delivery “in as little as 30 minutes” – in 2021 from a handful of stores. By 2023, the option became available from 1,000 Express stores, and the supermarket has now started to expand Whoosh into larger stores too.
The supermarket says it delivers around 200,000 Whoosh orders a week “in double-quick time” – with “an incredible” 1.2 million orders over the recent Christmas period. The popularity of the service continues to grow, boosted by ongoing TV advertising campaigns.
“Whoosh continues to be popular with customers and we have seen over 50% growth in the past year, with more customers enjoying our rapid delivery service,” a Tesco spokesman told The Grocer.
But it appears many staff are not enjoying Whoosh at all.
“It is the worst thing they have ever done to Express staff,” one Tesco worker posted. “They don’t see it though as they make a f***load of cash with it and that’s what they care about more.”
It is understood pick rate and the time it takes for the picking of an order to start – while always monitored – are now being used to pressure staff into working faster to fulfil orders by area and store managers.
Another common staff complaint was that the Uber couriers – under their own separate performance pressures – who deliver the Whoosh orders from stores to customers, were also piling pressure on staff to pick faster.
One poster said they “had a driver stalk me round the shop while I picked the order. Every time I entered a new aisle – shock, he was there again.”
Another said: “The driver’s there before you’ve even started the order most times, so they do follow you around the store and try to rush you.”
The supermarket said its hour allocation accuracy was continually improving as Whoosh grows in order volume, and hours were set in advance based on an individual store’s size and range and forecasted orders. Tesco said it worked closely with Express store colleagues to address store-specific hours concerns and to ensure they were prepared.
“We always listen to feedback from colleagues and look for ways to improve,” a Tesco spokesman told The Grocer, “and the processes for Whoosh colleagues in our Express stores are continually evolving. We have a dedicated Whoosh operations field team who support our 1,400-plus Whoosh stores, providing a constant source of support for colleagues.”
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