The restructuring events database contains factsheets with data on large-scale restructuring events reported in the principal national media and company websites in each EU Member State. This database was created in 2002.
Retail Retail Trade, Except Of Motor Vehicles And Motorcycles Retail Sale In Non-Specialised Stores 47.11 - Retail sale in non-specialised stores with food, beverages or tobacco predominating
2,832 jobs Number of planned job losses
Announcement Date
10 January 2020
Employment effect (start)
1 April 2020
Foreseen end date
Description
ASDA, a UK supermarket chain, has announced that it is planning to cut 2,832 jobs across the country. The compulsory 45-day consultation period with affected employees is underway and the redundancies are expected to start in April. The job cuts are affecting those working in the back office, including personnel and cash office roles.
A statement by the company says that the restructuring aims to optimise the workflow. A representative of the GMB trade union said that the news is deeply disappointing.
The announcement of redundancies follows a dispute between ASDA and its hourly-paid employees in late 2019 when the company stated that unless staff accepted new employment contracts, including variable shifts and working on bank holidays without extra pay, they would lose their jobs.
Eurofound (2020), Asda, Internal restructuring in United Kingdom, factsheet number 99716, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/99716.
Digitisation and automation technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), can affect working conditions in a variety of ways and their use in the workplace raises a host of new ethical concerns.
The retail banking sector is fertile ground for studying the impacts of digitalisation on work and employment. Financial services are increasingly provided online, without the intermediary of customer-facing institutions.
European labour markets have recovered strongly from COVID-19. By the end of 2021, little more than 18 months after the start of the pandemic, employment rates in the EU were almost at pre-crisis levels.
