Thousands of Tesco office staff will be swapping telephones for tills and heading for the shop floor this Christmas to help store staff to serve customers in the busiest week of the year.
In the largest back-to-the-floor operation of its kind, Tesco offices in Cheshunt and Welwyn Garden City will virtually shut down, leaving only critical support staff behind.
In what is being dubbed “Operation Helping Hands”, around 2,500 Tesco office staff will bolster the front line on two of the busiest days of the year, Wednesday 22 and Thursday 23 December.
Everyone from buyers to board members will offer support at the top 100 busiest stores, with helpers packing bags, filling shelves, serving customers and simply being on hand to help out.
Some members of staff are even choosing to go to a store close to their parents’ homes and combine helping in store with their trip to see relatives for the holidays. Others have chosen to go to store in a group and work as a team with their colleagues from the office.
Retail director David Potts, who will be heading to a number of stores in the week before Christmas, said: “Thousands of us will be rolling up our shirt-sleeves and getting stuck in on the shop floor over the festive period.
“Christmas is the end product of months of preparation for us, but on the shop floor is where our customers see the results.
“By helping to support our store staff at this busy time, we’ll be helping to make our customers’ shopping experience the best ever this year.”
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Tesco is the UK’s largest private sector employer with over 237,000 employees.
This week Tesco expects to sell:
- 250,000 frozen turkeys
- 800,000 packs of half price smoked salmon
- £5m worth of sausage-meat and stuffings
- £12m worth gammons
- 20 million mince pies.
- 1 million Christmas Puddings.
- 1,500 tonnes of Brussels sprouts.
