Sainsbury's Shelves 800 Store Jobs In Shake-Up

Sainsbury's has announced plans for another round of job losses, expecting 800 roles to go in a restructuring of its store operations.

Following January's decision to cut 500 office roles , the supermarket chain said it was looking to slash some department and deputy manager positions at its stores, with the savings invested in other shop floor roles.

It also planned to axe night shifts at many stores in favour of early morning and evening shifts.

The company said its proposed changes would "ensure that stores are better able to respond to changing customer demands" amid the bitter price war with rivals, especially discounters, who have taken market share from the so-called 'big four'.

Sainsbury's said the proposals would help achieve some of the £500m cost savings it wanted to make over the next three years, set out in the company’s strategic review.

It insisted they would "help fund future investments in areas which really matter to customers - such as service, price and quality".

Its statement continued: "Colleagues who currently work on the night shift will have a number of redeployment options, including: moving to early morning or evening shifts.

"Redeployment opportunities will be available for most affected colleagues and a consultation is now under way to discuss individuals’ options.

"However, it is expected that these proposals will result in around 800 fewer roles."

Roger Burnley, the company's retail and operations director, added: "These are exceptionally difficult decisions to make and we have not taken them lightly.

"I recognise that this will be a challenging time for many of our colleagues and we will do everything we can to support them and help them move through this period of uncertainty as quickly as possible."

Sainsbury's is not alone in its efforts to refocus its staffing as low inflation combines with the competitive retail environment to put pressure on margins.

Tesco (Xetra: 852647 - news) , which is planning to axe thousands of roles, is closing its head office to place a greater investment in customer service.

The country's biggest chain announced a huge writedown of £7bn in its annual results on Wednesday - the majority related to the value of its stores.

Tesco's chief executive later told Sky News it was looking at how its biggest stores operated, to help attract more customers back.

Sainsbury's announced earlier this year a new in-store concession partnership with Argos taking space in their biggest superstores.

Concessions are seen as one way of boosting convenience for consumers while creating new revenue streams at the same time.