UK supermarket group Tesco plans to cut 180 head office roles as it adapts to evolving shopping patterns.
Roles at the retailer’s Welwyn Garden City headquarters in Hertfordshire are understood to be at risk.
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In a statement to the Retail Insight Network Tesco said this week it has “begun speaking to colleagues about proposed changes to some of our head office functions, which will support continued investment to grow our business”.
As part of the plan, the retailer said it has made the “difficult” decision to eliminate around 180 roles across certain office teams, as it looks to operate more efficiently.
Alongside the proposed reductions, Tesco said it plans to create around 250 roles within existing teams at the site.
In the same statement, Tesco group CEO Ken Murphy said: “We are committed to giving our customers the best value and service every time they shop with Tesco. As we look forward and anticipate customers’ changing needs, we must ensure we continue to have the right setup and capabilities.
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By GlobalData“To do this in a highly competitive market, we must be efficient and agile in how we run our business. As a result, we have begun speaking to colleagues about some changes to our head office that will involve some roles being removed and new roles created.”
The supermarket did not specify which functions would be affected, but said its immediate priority is supporting impacted employees, including helping them move into alternative roles where possible.
In January last year, Tesco removed about 400 roles across its bakeries, mobile phone operations and head office as part of efforts to “simplify” the business.
Those cuts affected management posts at head office, Tesco Mobile managers and staff in in-store bakeries, as well as employees at the Welwyn Garden City administrative centre.
At the time, Tesco said the decision comes in response to the increasingly competitive market, which has forced the company to explore new methods of investing in its value proposition.
The company added that it expects profit of between £2.9bn and £3.1bn in the most recent financial year since the earlier restructuring.
Separately, Tesco this month outlined plans to expand its convenience store estate as part of its UK growth strategy, aiming to open more than 70 Tesco Express outlets by the end of the 2026/27 financial year.
The programme builds on around 60 store launches in 2025.
Tesco has also acquired five former Amazon Fresh locations in London, which are due to reopen as Tesco Express shops before summer 2026.
