Sainsbury’s to cut 3,000 jobs

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J Sainsbury’s is cutting 3,000 jobs as the UK’s second-biggest supermarket chain looks to reduce costs and simplify its business.

The redundancies, which amount to 2% of the group’s workforce, will result from the closure of the remaining in-store cafes and sweeping changes at management level.

Around 20% of senior management roles are expected to be cut, Sainsbury’s said on Thursday.

The decision comes after the company said last year it would cut costs by £1 billion over the next three years.

The reorganization also comes amid what chief executive Simon Roberts called an “exceptionally challenging cost environment” as retailers grapple with rising costs and taxes.

The grocery chain said it is overhauling the structure of its central management team “to support faster decision-making and drive performance” at both Sainsbury’s and Argos, which are also owned by the group .

This will result in fewer, larger head office roles with clearer accountability, the company said, adding that the changes will come into effect in the coming months.

Roberts said the business “had to make difficult choices about where we could afford to invest and where we needed to do things differently to make our business more efficient”.