Morrisons clamps down on ‘idling’ staff stockroom access in push to boost service
Morrisons has moved to restrict its shopworkers’ access to its store stockrooms as part of a renewed focus on customer service and shop floor availability.
From August, only authorised managers and designated warehouse colleagues will be allowed into backroom areas, the supermarket confirmed, reported The Telegraph.
The new rules will apply to those scanning in deliveries or fulfilling online orders, while some customer assistants will still be assigned to stockroom roles.
The move is aimed at ensuring “the right colleagues in the right place to deliver the best service to customers at all times,” Morrisons said in a statement written to staff.
The retailer added that the changes would help reduce idle time and sharpen its focus on keeping shelves stocked and customer service standards high.
A Morrisons spokesperson described the restrictions as part of its “relentless drive to improve customer service and availability”, and aimed at making its warehouses more efficient and allowing shelves to be replenished quicker.
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The retailer has historically struggled with customer satisfaction scores compared to rivals. In the most recent UK Customer Satisfaction Index, Morrisons scored 79.1, ranking behind Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Aldi, M&S and Ocado, though it marked the supermarket’s highest rating since 2018.
Morrisons’ latest customer service overhaul follows similar moves by competitors. Last year, Tesco banned staff from wearing headphones while on the shop floor to improve engagement with shoppers.
The push comes amid wider changes under chief executive Rami Baitiéh, who joined Morrisons in late 2023 and has been spearheading a turnaround plan as the retailer faces continued pressure from discounters and rivals in a fiercely competitive market.
In May, Kantar data showed Morrisons’ share of the UK grocery market had dipped to 8.4% compared with 8.6% the year before, and down from 9.4% in 2022.
Earlier this year, Morrisons also required head office staff to revert to full five-day working weeks, abandoning its previous four-and-a-half day compressed hours policy, citing increased cost pressures and the need for tighter focus.
That came alongside job cuts and the closure of dozens of cafés in a bid to streamline the business. At the time, Baitiéh said those changes were a “necessary part of our plans to renew and reinvigorate Morrisons.”
Last month, the retailer reported a 4.2% sales increase to £3.9bn in the 13 weeks to 27 April, signalling what Baitiéh called a strong bounce back following cyber issues in late 2023.
7 Comments. Leave new
I worked for a well known company that supply Morrisons with our branded razors and Morrisons were the worst retailers. They had stock buried in their warehouse and I mean buried from 5 years ago and wouldn’t wipe the book stock off, so the shelves were empty. I spent 8 hrs in one particular store and counted the whole inventory for them to bury it all a week later. The availability was awful to the pint of empty shelves and management didn’t care and staff were demoralised. Shoppers were fed up and going to the Asda opposite.
When I was working to get to certain offices I had pass through the warehouse to get to the office I wanted. Restricting my access would mean I couldn’t get to the office I needed. That wouldn’t work. Thank goodness Tesco had more sense than Morrisons. I am retired now.
Because every Morrisons has the exact same layout as the store you worked in before you retired.
What an utterly idiotic idea, no doubt dreamt up by someone who hasn’t worked a shift on a shop floor in their life. If you want to improve your customer service I’ll lay the answer out in simple steps… 1) Stop cutting jobs, in fact increase your shop floor staff levels. 2) Train those staff members properly in how to provide quality customer service, that doesn’t mean sitting them in front of a computer screen to watch a 10 minute video full of fake smiles and corporate bullshit. 3) Treat your staff like human beings and treat them well, provide them with a nice place to work, with wages that allow them to live comfortably, form a community within your shops. 4) Train your Managers to be Leaders, have them lead by example and be accessible, empathetic, and knowledgeable instead of aloof, tyrannical and promoted because of how much ass they kiss or bullshit they can talk. Happy staff = happy customers.
And if you need to make cuts to achieve this look at your Head Office for overpaid ideas ‘men’ who have never put beans on a shelf, executives on 10x the pay your shop staff are who do nothing but sit on Zoom calls all day, minimise board level bonuses or stop them until they’re actually earned. Cut out the DEI initiatives and all similar BS for a few years at least, go back to basics and focus ALL attention on stores and making them a nice play to work at, shop at, and the rest will follow.
Well said that should be applied at all supermarkets
Why anyone shops at Morrisons I will never understand, if people seen the state of the warehouses, the inside of the trailer that the fresh stock goes to store in, the rats that are in the warehouses, stock sits in warehouses for days, the waste they throw away weekly is shocking and getting worse by the week, was a good company 10 years ago now glad to see them on the decline even the staff are that demoralised that there not interested, managers who shouldn’t be managers in charge that have no clue what there doing just want a easy pay check every month, rather walk round with there hands pockets nothing will ever get sorted though
Gone in 18 months. Dreadful people at Hilmore, new graduate jobsworth managers. Matter of time