Tesco announces huge change to all supermarkets with more than 2,000 jobs at risk

Tesco is to shake up its shop management roles and shut remaining counters and hot delis in an overhaul which will impact around 2,100 jobs.

The counters and hot delis will close from February 26.

The big four supermarket chain said it was going to try and redeploy the staff that will be affected by the change.

However, it did not confirm the exact number of staff who work on the hot food delis and counters.

It will also reduce the number of Lead and Team Managers in its larger stores, impacting around 1,750 staff.

However, the grocer said it will also introduce around 1,800 new shift leader roles across its stores who will lead day-to-day operations.

It said it would also “realign” its manager roles to “ensure they are all of equal size and complexity”.

It said: “We are supporting colleagues impacted by these changes, who will have the option of moving into shift leader vacancies with financial support or taking redundancy.”

Tesco will also remove a number of roles in different functions of the Head Office and will close the Tesco Maintenance National Operating Centre (NOC) in Milton Keynes.

Tesco says the reason for the decision was that it had seen a “significant decrease” in the demand for over-the-counter services over the last few years.

Jason Tarry, Tesco UK and ROI CEO said: “These are difficult decisions to make, but they are necessary to ensure we remain focused on delivering value for our customers wherever we can, as well as ensuring our store offer reflects what our customers value the most.

“Our priority is to support those colleagues impacted and help find alternative roles within our business from the vacancies and newly created roles we have available.”

The retailer also said 350 workers will be impacted by a series of “localised” changes, including the closure of eight pharmacies and reduced hours at some in-store post offices which was announced last week.

Tesco first announced changes to its counters back in 2019, and says it has been reviewing them on an “ongoing basis” ever since.

The majority of stores do not have fresh food counters as last year Tesco closed meat, fish and deli counters in more than 300 of its stores.

Reports from December 2022 said the store would axe a further 279 food counters at the beginning of this year.

In its release, the supermarket said it would continue to work with third parties to offer a counter experience in-store where it can.