Asda chairman urges staff to prioritise Mondays and Fridays in office
Asda’s executive chair Allan Leighton has personally emailed the supermarket’s head office workforce, calling for employees to better “flatten the week” by attending the office on Mondays and Fridays, days that are currently being overlooked under the current hybrid-working policy.
Under existing hybrid-working rules, head office staff are only required to be on-site three days a week.
However, Leighton and senior management have flagged a trend of most staff clustering their office days in the mid-week window of Tuesday to Thursday, leaving the start and end of the week hollowed out, according Retail Week.
It is understood Leighton urged colleagues to “spread out their days” to include both Mondays and Fridays.
A source close to the supermarket chain noted the aim was to ensure consistent representation across the full working week, allowing teams to be “always on hand to support our customers and stores.”
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An Asda spokesperson added: “We have a clearly defined hybrid working policy for home office colleagues of three days per week in Asda House or another Asda location.
“We are asking teams to ensure they have representation across the week in the office so that colleagues are always on hand to support our customers and stores.”
The move reflects a wider trend in the sector, with retailers returning to more structured in-office presence. Last month, fellow supermarket chain Lidl tightened its hybrid home-working policy for head office staff, in a move that aimed at “aligning” the discounter with “the rest of the sector”.
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Very poorly thought out blanket decision. My function is not store facing and defining 2/3 of my office days means this can hardly be called flexible working. Already proving difficult to hire and retain talent and this is only going to make it worse. Allan also made reference to store staff not having the option to WFH – what’s the relevance there? Totally different job with totally different job market.
This situation is incredibly disappointing. After nearly two years of dedicated service at Asda and being made redundant earlier this year, this feels like nothing more than a power play. The mandate to return to the office three days a week seems arbitrary—where is the data showing this has improved performance and sales? It’s clear that Asda’s struggles stem from fierce competition with Aldi and Lidl, not remote work. Rather than fostering collaboration, this policy has contributed to a toxic work environment. Coupled with the lowest pay rise of the year and no bonus, it’s hard to see how leadership expects to boost morale. Who is Alan trying to convince?