Asda will cut jobs at its head offices in Yorkshire and Leicestershire to address “permanent” change in the retail market and to “redefine value retailing”.
When asked by FPJ, the UK’s second largest retailer said it would not give an official figure on how many jobs will be lost, despite media reports that it will be around 200.
The redundancies will affect staff at the Leicestershire town of Lutterworth, home of Asda’s clothing arm George, as well as at the company’s head office in Leeds.
The Yorkshire Post reported that the job losses will affect every rung of the management ladder, except shopfloor workers, and represent a programme to make 202 roles redundant.
The paper said that the highest profile redundancy is Karen Hubbard, executive director for property, who joined Asda five years ago and supervised the integration of the Netto stores.
In an internal message to staff, Asda chief executive Andy Clarke said Hubbard had been considering moving to an international role with Walmart, but decided against it for personal reasons, The Yorkshire Post reported.
Clarke added that recent news from Asda’s competitors reinforced a permanent structural change in the market.
“Over 18 months ago, we reviewed our business after recognising a structural change taking place in the retail market,” a spokesperson for Asda said. “This led us to set a new strategy in 2013 which will see Asda redefine value retailing in the UK.
“In the spirit of openness, we’ve let our colleagues know that we will be having some more detailed discussions with them this week about a new structure.”
“As you’d expect, we’ll have conversations about the details with all our colleagues first,” the spokesperson added.
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