Sainsbury’s is preparing to shed as many as 1,000 jobs as it gears up for the next phase of its cost-cutting drive.
The supermarkets group has hired McKinsey, the consultancy, to finalise the proposed redundancies at its offices nationwide. The plans, reported by The Sunday Telegraph, are expected to be formally announced next month.
Britain’s second-biggest supermarket has already cut about 1,200 jobs in its stores and 500 in its store support centres as part of a three-year, £500 million programme that ends this financial year. It has announced that it aims to make a further £500 million in savings over the next three years, as competition from discount chains and convenience stores eats into its profits.
Sainsbury’s employs about 160,000 people in its supermarket business in the UK, with about 4,000 of those in non-store, office-based roles. As well as its head office at Holborn, central London, it has a human resources base in Manchester, a banking unit in Edinburgh and IT operations in Coventry.
Mike Coupe, chief executive, announced the first £500 million cost-cutting effort soon after taking the job in 2014. The following year Sainsbury’s cut 500 jobs in its store support centres and 800 in stores. In March, it said it was losing a further 400 jobs in a restructuring of its store operations.
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A spokesman for Sainsbury’s said: “We do not comment on speculation.”