Morrisons to cut 1,500 management roles in drastic staffing overhaul

Morrisons told staff on Thursday that it would soon be cutting roughly 1,500 store management roles as it joins other supermarkets in overhauling its workforce to adapt to changing consumer habits.

The grocer informed employees of its intentions to axe the management roles in order to create 1,700 junior roles that will see hundreds of employees' responsibilities change exponentially and make the position of warehouse manager redundant across all of its stores.

While there was said to be around 800 management vacancies at Morrisons, about 700 senior workers would still have to face redundancy or a lower paid position if they chose to stay with the supermarket.

The 1,700 junior roles will be made up of shop checkout staff and shelf stackers.

Gary Mills, Morrisons' retail director, said that the facelift to the company's front-of-house staff was in line with its aim to "serve customers better with more front-line colleagues in stores improving product availability and helping customers at the checkouts".

Mills said: "Very regrettably, there will be a period of uncertainty for some managers affected by these proposals and we’ll be supporting them through this important process." He added that the company was committed to redeploying as many affected colleagues as possible.

Morrisons' decision comes less than a week after fellow supermarket giant Sainsbury's warned that thousands of store management roles could be at risk, while Tesco also announced a similar shake-up that would affect 1,600 jobs.

At 1520 GMT, the shares were up 0.54% to 223.20p.