New Morrisons CEO David Potts has instructed the retailer’s 2,000 head office staff to help out in stores this Easter as he sets to work on improving the core supermarket estate.

Potts, will be working in a store over Easter week himself, and has challenged staff to do the same and while they are there to listen hard to customers and store colleagues.

He has also launched a new initiative labelled ‘Team Work’ in which head office staff will be required to spend at least one week a year working in a store. It is a similar scheme to a long-standing project at Potts’ former employer Tesco called ‘Helping hands’ which was recently renamed ‘Feet on the floor’.

The project is a part of a wider listening initiative, launched by Potts, where customers and staff have been invited to tell Morrisons what they like about the grocer but also what it could do better. In a video posted on Youtube this week, Potts said he plans to use this insight as he works to improve the business.

“I want to listen hard and respond to the views of as many customers and staff as I can. I strongly believe that we are all retailers and we can learn how to serve our customers better when we are working in our stores or when we do our own shopping,” he explained.

This week he has also been gathering customer feedback about different aspects of the shopping trip with 12 store managers during a visit to Morrisons’ supermarket in Guiseley.

The Grocer also understands that he has been visiting stores unannounced as he looks to gather a picture of what is currently happening in-store.