The retailer has also proposed the closure of all remaining patisserie, hot food and pizza counters, as well as its 61 Sainsbury’s Cafés.
The café closures remain subject to consultations, but look set to occur in the next few months alongside the layoffs as Sainsbury’s enters the “second year of its three-year Next Level strategy”.
Sainsbury’s specified that moving forward it plans to reorganise head office departments, leading to fewer but bigger roles being created.
The proposal has been designed to “drive faster decision making” and will lead to an estimated 20% reduction in senior management roles.
Further details on the roles being made redundant were not provided.
Explaining the decision, the firm’s chief executive Simon Roberts cited the “particularly challenging cost environment” in the UK.
“The decisions we are announcing today are essential to ensure we continue to drive forward our momentum but have also meant some difficult choices impacting our dedicated colleagues in a number of parts of our business,” Roberts said.
“We’ll be doing everything we can to support anyone impacted by today’s announcements.”
Changes already announced include the appointment of Rhian Bartlett as chief commercial officer, and the naming of Graham Biggart as both chief strategy and supply officer, and Argos managing director.
The news comes just two weeks after Sainsbury’s announced plans to raise hourly wages to £12.60 per hour from August 2025.
‘Paying the price’
The proposal has been criticised by Unite the Union, with national officer for food Paul Travers describing the decision as an example of “profiteering”.
“Once again, the lowest paid workers are paying the price for corporate greed,” Travers said.
“Sainsburys is a hugely profitable company and made over half a billion pounds in profit last year. Yet they are proposing thousands of redundancies of store workers and deskilling qualified bakers by removing on-site bakeries. At the same time, well-paid managers are being protected from any job losses.
“This is a blatant example of profiteering on the backs of workers and then sticking the knife in. Sainsburys should be ashamed of themselves for taking this path. Unite will be fighting for our members' jobs during any consultation process and helping them through this difficult time.”
