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Asda is planning to offer underperforming staff in its home shopping team additional training as part of efforts to improve efficiency and win back customers, according to the Telegraph.
The supermarket will use data to assess how quickly staff pick and pack online orders, the accuracy of item selection and the suitability of substitutions.
The lowest-performing employees will be offered coaching, with training selection also based on wider performance metrics.
The Telegraph has learnt that the programme could involve up to one in five home shopping workers at any given time. A similar initiative is already in place for its delivery drivers.
The move comes amid a broader push among supermarkets to raise productivity. Last week, Morrisons announced it would bar shop floor workers from entering stockrooms to reduce downtime, while Tesco banned the use of headphones under its uniform policy last year.
The initiative is also part of a wider turnaround effort at Asda following years of market share decline.
However, the GMB union has criticised Asda’s approach, warning that performance-based training risks harming staff welfare.
In a communication to members, the union stated that this new system could have a “dramatic impact on colleague wellbeing and workplace stress” and argued that targeting 20% of staff for training could encourage “managers bullying colleagues and potentially discriminating against those least able to hit certain targets due to underlying medical or age-related factors”.
It also believes that this practice will lead to “discrimination against colleagues i.e. those with disabilities or older colleagues”.
As a result, GMB has urged Asda to pull back from some of the “most damaging” elements of its proposed new policy.
An Asda spokesperson told Retail Sector: “This proposal to introduce additional coaching to our home shopping colleagues will provide an opportunity for us to engage earlier with colleagues to understand any concerns that they may have or support that they require to help them excel in their roles and deliver outstanding service to our customers.
“This proposal would not introduce any additional targets for our colleagues and does not replace the performance improvement processes we already have in place.”
