Asda cuts more than 200 jobs following IT upgrade
Asda has axed hundreds of jobs connected to its botched £800m IT upgrade.
Asda has axed hundreds of jobs connected to its botched £800m IT upgrade.
More than 200 employees that were contracted to work on the transformation and separation of the supermarket’s IT system from former owner Walmart have been dismissed this week.
It is understood that more staff will be leaving in the coming weeks and months as they complete their roles on the Project Future changeover.
The retailer has spent much of the past year busy untangling thousands of programmes responsible for its checkouts, administration and payroll from those of Walmart.
Asda had hired hundreds of workers to carry out the changeover, which has been fraught with setbacks and delays including a botched update that led to thousands of the supermarket’s employees being paid incorrectly.
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The supermarket was forced to apologise in August after thousands of customers ordering from its George clothing range were left out of pocket ahead of the new school year.
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 pair have agreed to extend the deadline.
The supermarket is also understood to be folding the management of its IPL sourcing and logistics division into its central management function, The Grocer reported.
The supermarket said the management restructure was aimed at supporting its ‘Formula for Growth’ strategy and would integrate IPL’s leadership teams into the relevant Asda functions, “bringing the business closer to our operations”.
The latest job cuts mark the second round of redundancies in five months under new chairman Allan Leighton.
He sacked 13 regional managers 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 revealed they only found out that Leighton had scrapped 10,000 staff bonuses when the news broke in the media.
Asda has been contacted for comment.
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