Asda has axed hundreds of jobs connected to a troubled £800m IT upgrade.
More than 200 employees working on the separation of the supermarket’s IT system from former owner Walmart were dismissed this week.
It has been reported that more staff will be leaving in the near future as they complete their roles on the Project Future changeover, which has involved untangling a host of programs responsible for its checkouts, administration and payroll from those of Walmart.
Asda had brought in the workers to implement the changeover, which has seen several setbacks, including a botched update that led to thousands of the supermarket’s employees being paid incorrectly.
Asda
Asda execs to go without annual bonus, reports suggest
Asda escaped a penalty charge last month after it failed to meet the original deadline set by Walmart to separate its IT systems. It is understood the firms have agreed to extend the deadline.
An Asda spokesman told the journal Retail Gazette: “For many teams the work is done and so it is natural that colleagues leave the project as the specific workstreams they are working on are completed or as their contracts finish.”
The latest job cuts mark the second round of redundancies in five months under new chairman, former Royal Mail and Post Office chairman Allan Leighton.
Under Leighton, 13 regional managers lost their jobs as part of an internal restructuring in January following Asda’s worst Christmas trading performance since 2015.
Prior to that, Asda made 500 staff redundant without a consultation period last November.
The supermarket came under fire earlier this month when employees claimed they only found out that Leighton had scrapped 10,000 staff bonuses when the news broke in the media.
An Asda spokesman said: “The majority of our operations have successfully transitioned to new systems as part of Project Future. For many teams the work is done and so it is natural that colleagues leave the project as the specific workstreams they are working on are completed or as their contracts finish.”
Despite legislation typically requiring companies to carry out a 45-day consultation when dismissing 100 employees or more, Lord Rose, the Asda chairman, insisted at the time of the 500 redundancies last Novermber that no rules have been breached and that dismissing its employees without consultation was the most “humane way” to carry out the cuts.
He had said: “It is categorically not against the law. Why would I do something that was against the law?”.
Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance
Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday
Latest HR job opportunities on Personnel Today
Browse more human resources jobs
