Sainsbury’s swings jobs axe after Tesco move

Sainsbury’s yesterday unveiled a shake‑up at its supermarkets, putting thou‑ sands of senior store staff jobs at risk.

The UK’S second‑biggest supermarket’s move follows a similar exercise announced by bigger rival Tesco the day before, which said 1,700 jobs were at risk from a restruc‑ turing.

Echoing Tesco, Sainsbury’s said the changes at both its supermarkets and conven‑ ience stores were “to meet the challenges of today’s retail environment” and will result in a more “efficient” structure.

Simon Roberts, Sainsbury’s retail and operations director, said that the “intention is not to reduce overall headcount”.

He added: “We’re proposing a store management structure that will deliver best‑in‑class leadership and, in many cases, will offer an improved reward package for new management roles.

“The proposals will intro‑ duce a more efficient and effective structure.”