Asda is cutting hundreds of jobs in connection with a troubled PS800m upgrade.
This week, more than 200 workers who were working to separate the IT system of Walmart from the supermarket have been dismissed.
There have been reports that Project Future will see more employees leave in the near term as they finish their roles. This changeover involved detangling the programs responsible for Walmart’s checkouts, payroll, and administration from Project Future.
Asda brought in workers to implement the switchover. This has been met with several setbacks including a botched upgrade that resulted in thousands of supermarket employees being paid incorrectly.
Asda avoided a penalty last month when it missed the deadline Walmart set to separate its IT system. The firms are believed to have agreed on a new deadline.
A spokesperson for Asda told Retail Gazette that: “For many groups, the work is finished and it is only natural for colleagues to leave the project when the specific workstreams on which they are currently working are completed or their contracts end.”
Allan Leighton, the former Royal Mail and Post Office Chairman and new chairman of the Post Office and Royal Mail, has announced a second round in five months of job cuts.
As a result of Asda’s poorest Christmas sales performance since 2015, thirteen regional managers were axed from their positions under Leighton as part an internal restructuring that took place in January.
Asda had already made 500 employees redundant in November last year without consulting them.
Employees at the supermarket claimed that they learned of Leighton ‘s decision to scrap 10,000 bonuses for staff only after the news was reported in the media.
Asda’s spokesperson said: “The majority our operations have successfully moved to new systems in Project Future.” Many teams are done with their work and it’s only natural for colleagues to leave as work streams are completed or contracts end.
Despite the fact that legislation requires companies to consult for 45 days when they dismiss 100 or more employees, At the time of Asda’s 500 redundancies in November last year, Lord Rose, Asda’s chairman, claimed that there had been no breach of rules and that the dismissal without consultation was “the most humane” way to make the cuts.
“It’s categorically against the law.” Why would I do anything that was against law?
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