Asda House

Source: Asda

Asda House, Leeds

Asda has announced its head office staff will move to a “hybrid” model of working once social distancing restrictions are lifted.

Staff at its offices in Asda House in Leeds and George House, Leicester, will operate under what it has labelled a ‘work where it works system’.

Asda said the new approach would encourage colleagues to select the best location to do their job in a day – either from home, head office or an alternative location such as a store or depot.

Staff will be expected to work from their head office location when they have team meetings, training and meetings with other colleagues, but the supermarket said they would be able to work from home when it was more productive to do so – such as for tasks that involve planning or research.

It also said there would be no set targets on the number of days workers would operate from a specific location.

Asda said as the government prepared to announce its plans for social distancing it was encouraging staff to work from home where they can. The supermarket has invested in its head offices to make sure they are Covid-secure, and these have remained open with reduced capacity throughout the pandemic for those colleagues that need to work from an office location or chose to for wellbeing reasons.

“We have learned a great deal about working patterns during the last 16 months and have seen colleagues work productively across different locations,” said Asda VP of people operations Jacki Simpson.

“Having consulted extensively with them about future ways of working, we know they welcome the increased flexibility of remote working. However, they also acknowledge there is some work that is simply better done from the office, so as we move forward a hybrid working model is the right approach for our people and the business.

“We believe this approach will help us attract and retain the best talent and will continue to position Asda as an employer of choice.”