Tesco demotes 1,700 staff in shake-up of Express chain

A shake-up of Tesco (Frankfurt: 852647 - news) 's Express (Frankfurt: 02Z.F - news) convenience chain will force 1,700 deputy managers into a pay cut if they want to keep their current job.

The UK's biggest retailer said it was scrapping the deputy manager role but creating 3,300 shift leader jobs for the 1,800-strong network instead, in a move aimed at bolstering customer service through 1,500 net new jobs.

The changes, Tesco said, followed a successful trial as part of its group transformation programme and were not aimed at cutting costs.

The transformation effort, to date, has resulted in a raft of changes to shore up its market-leading position amid the challenge posed by hard discounters that has seen the so-called 'big four' chains lose customers to the likes of Aldi and Lidl.

Tesco said its consultation with deputy managers provided them with three options: to take one of the new jobs, transfer to a larger store or take redundancy.

It added that those who chose to take a shift leader position would be financially supported. It has previously offered one-off compensation to other staff placed in a similar position who were also likely to be thousands of pounds worse off in salary terms.

Tracey Clements, managing director of convenience at Tesco, insisted the changes were not intended to save money.

She (Munich: SOQ.MU - news) said: "To help improve our service to customers in our Express stores we are aiming to have more of our colleagues on the shop floor, more often.

"To help achieve this we are creating more than 3,300 shift leader roles which, in turn, means we will no longer have deputy managers.

"We appreciate that these changes will impact our deputy manager colleagues, and will do everything we can to support them throughout this period."

Pauline Foulkes, national officer at the Usdaw union, said: "We have been consulted on the company's proposal and are now entering a period of one-to-one meetings with those affected.

"Usdaw reps and full-time officials are providing our members with the support, advice and representation they require through this process.

"Our priorities are to avoid redundancies, help find suitable alternative roles for those affected and get the best possible deal for staff."