Asda sends till workers into warehouses under turnaround plan

By the Editorial Team · Thursday, July 16, 2026

Asda will require checkout employees to rotate through four key store departments—replenishment, process, service, and picking—as part of a new strategy to boost flexibility and improve store performance. This restructuring aims to address declining sales and market share by better aligning staff with customer demand, while also reviewing shift patterns and potentially offering voluntary redundancies in overstaffed areas.

Asda has announced a significant operational change requiring checkout staff to undertake additional duties in store warehouses as part of a broader turnaround strategy. The supermarket informed employees that they will no longer be confined to a single department but will be expected to rotate across four main areas: replenishment, process, service, and picking.

The move, communicated to staff during a mandatory meeting on Wednesday, aims to enhance staffing flexibility and improve store performance by aligning workforce presence with fluctuating customer demand throughout the day. Asda indicated that colleague rotas and working patterns will be reviewed to ensure adequate staff coverage during peak periods.

This restructuring comes amid ongoing challenges for the company, which has faced declining sales and mounting financial pressures following its 2021 acquisition by private equity firm TDR Capital along with the Issa brothers. Since the takeover, Asda’s grocery market share has declined from 14.4 percent to 11.5 percent, narrowly behind Aldi’s market share, which has grown from 7.9 percent to 10.8 percent. The retailer's position as Britain’s third largest supermarket is now under threat.

In the past year, Asda has reduced its workforce by approximately 7,500 employees as it grapples with an interest debt burden that has increased eightfold to nearly £730 million. The company has also faced a high-profile equal pay lawsuit brought by predominantly female shop floor workers, alleging wage disparities compared to mainly male warehouse staff. Asda has denied any connection between the wage claim and the new workforce reorganisation.

The company hopes the changes will lead to better stocked shelves and improvements in fresh produce and bakery product availability, reflecting its efforts to reverse recent sales declines. Reports also indicate that stores with perceived overstaffing issues may offer voluntary redundancy, although the company emphasized this would affect less than 1 percent of its approximately 90,000 store-based employees.

Separately, Asda is consulting on redundancies affecting more than 300 security guards employed by its contractor Mitie, a move drawing criticism given rising incidents of shoplifting and violence in retail environments.

An Asda spokesperson said the changes are designed to improve service and operational standards across stores by matching staff deployment to shifting customer patterns and establishing greater consistency in task execution.

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