A head office jobs cull at Aldi is the result of the discounter outsourcing roles to workers in India, Romania and Bulgaria, The Grocer has learned.
Aldi has outsourced jobs in finance and accounting, procurement and HR, with a focus on administrative roles, according to a source with knowledge of the arrangement.
It is understood Aldi had planned to outsource the roles to lower-wage countries for about two years before a restructure at its Atherstone head office emerged last week, putting up to 350 jobs at risk.
The supermarket is undertaking a similar move in other countries where it operates, working with US-based professional services and outsourcing company Genpact.
Most of Aldi UK’s outsourcing is going to India. Aldi US and Australia are taking a similar approach, while Aldi in mainland Europe will outsource predominantly to Romania and Bulgaria.
Genpact, which also helps companies use AI, announced a multi-year partnership with Aldi Süd in July last year. However, the announcement focused on data, technology, and AI solutions, with no mention of outsourcing to human workers.
Neither Aldi nor Genpact responded to The Grocer’s enquiries about the arrangement.
Commenting on the UK head office restructure last week, an Aldi spokesperson said: “To support our continued growth and to offer the best experience to our customers, we are consulting over proposals to restructure some head office teams.
“No customer-facing roles are affected, and no final decisions will be made until the consultation process is complete.
“We are committed to supporting our colleagues throughout this process. Wherever possible, we will seek to redeploy affected colleagues within the business.”
The restructure sees Aldi join Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Morrisons in the list of supermarkets announcing job cuts in recent weeks.
However, unlike many jobs cuts elsewhere in retail, the long planning of Aldi’s suggest they have little to do with additional costs placed on the sector in the autumn budget, which include an increase in employers’ National Insurance and the national living wage from April.
On 1 March, Aldi became the highest-paying supermarket in London by increasing its entry level store worker hourly rate within the M25 from £13.65 to £14.05. Across the rest of the UK its rate went from £12.40 to £12.75, making it joint-highest paying with Lidl.
* This article was updated on 5 March with the addition of information on Aldi’s outsourcing partner Genpact.
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