# Asda scraps 10,000 staff bonuses

- **Episode:** [176](https://agents.truthliesandwork.com/episodes/176.md) (2025-03-04)
- **Type:** news-roundup
- **Tags:** asda, bonuses, retail, employee-benefits
- **Time:** 0:33–8:31 (start 33s)
- **Listen:** [https://truthliesandwork.com/176?t=33](https://truthliesandwork.com/176?t=33)

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[0:33] Elaine Smith: Nice
[0:37] Leanne Elliott: Hello and welcome to Truth, Lies and Work, the award-winning psychology podcast brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. My name is Leanne. I'm a chartered psychologist
[0:56] Al Elliott: My name is Al. I'm a business owner
[0:58] Leanne Elliott: And we are here to help you simplify the science of work and create amazing workplace cultures
[1:02] Al Elliott: Yes, we are. Welcome, welcome. Hello. Anything happening in DEI recently, Lee? Anything new?
[1:07] Leanne Elliott: Um, I've heard various things. Um, I think, I think we fixed it so we can cancel most of it, um, or it doesn't really work, so we might as well just cancel it and not replace it with anything, um, or we just need to be a A bit more bully, bully, bully, bully, bully, bully. I don't know
[1:25] Al Elliott: We will be addressing that, don't you worry
[1:28] Leanne Elliott: I'm trying not to say the T word because you told me I can't talk about politics
[1:30] Al Elliott: Well, it's not you can't talk about politics. It's just as a work thing, we want to be kind of politics agnostic. Although, to be fair, if you're a regular listener, you probably know already where we stand on our, on our politics and what we like and who we don't. Anyway, if you're a regular, just tune out for about 18 seconds while I let the new listeners know how this little pod works. Today is Tuesday, which is our This Week in Work episode where we update you on what's happening in the world of work. Plus, have a hot take from an expert guest, plus your weekly dose of the world-famous Weekly Workplace Surgery, where I put your questions to Leanne. Yes
[2:00] Leanne Elliott: And then every Thursday, we bring you a brand new interview with an expert guest who knows how to create great workplace cultures. This Thursday, it's a good one. It is a genuine 45-minute masterclass on being a great manager
[2:12] Al Elliott: So, with that out the way, Lea, what time is it?
[2:15] Leanne Elliott: It's my favourite time of the week, Al. It's time for the news roundup. Cue the jingle
[2:18] Al Elliott: Cue that jingle. Okay, Lea, what have you seen this week?
[2:22] Leanne Elliott: Asda has scrapped 10,000 staff bonuses
[2:27] Elaine Smith: Oh
[2:28] Leanne Elliott: I know, yeah, every little helps. Well, apparently not enough
[2:31] Al Elliott: That's Tesco
[2:33] Leanne Elliott: Oh, is it? Oh, there you go. That's Asda's problem right there, isn't it? Their branding is just not resonating. But yes, all the major UK newspapers are talking about the big news coming out of Asda that more than 10,000 managers will have been told they won't receive their annual bonus this year
[2:49] Al Elliott: Just before you carry on, the context for American listeners might be that Walmart owns Asda. So Asda's a big supermarket
[2:56] Leanne Elliott: They used to, they don't anymore
[2:57] Al Elliott: Oh, do they not?
[2:58] Elaine Smith: No
[2:58] Al Elliott: But Asda's a big— it comes from Associated Dairies. That's where the name came from. And it's basically a big supermarket in the UK
[3:04] Leanne Elliott: Sorry, sorry. Grocery store. But anyway, the managers aren't getting their bonuses. So it does come after a bit of a tough year, declining sales, shrinking market share, that Waitrose seems to be doing very well at the moment. And what's been described as the worst Christmas performance in a decade. So what is happening? Well, typically managers at Asda expect to receive their bonus in the first quarter of the year. However, the supermarket's faltering performance does mean that those payouts are off the table. So the decision impacts roughly 10% of Asda's 134,500 employees, which is around 14,000 people. That's a lot of people. Asda's market share, as I said, has dropped by about 1.5% over the last 12 months. Sales are down by 5.2% in the 12 weeks leading up to end of January, and the financial report due out soon is expected to paint a pretty bleak picture, adding more pressure to an already struggling retailer. Alan Leighton, who was credited with turning Asda into a retail powerhouse in the 1990s— good times— uh, recently returned to lead the company. He is facing an uphill battle to revive what he calls the Asda DNA. Since his return, the company has also seen job cuts, including the departure of 13 regional managers as part of a restructuring effort. So why does this matter for employees? Well, the decision to cut bonuses, understandably, people aren't gonna like, and it's gonna hit morale pretty hard. One former senior Asda employee warned that morale will be at rock bottom, and some of the supermarket's top talent may start looking elsewhere. And it's not just speculation. Fewer than half of Asda's workers said they are confident in the company's strategy in a recent staff survey. There's also a lot of concern about how this will affect Asda's workplace culture, One recruiter even suggested the move could lead to anarchy within the company. And let's not forget, this comes off the heels of criticism from union chiefs over how Asda handled recent redundancies. Hundreds of head office staff were laid off without warning late last year, a move the GMB union called not the right way for a major employer to act, saying that very politely. Um, Asda's challenges aren't just internal. The supermarket has struggled since it was taken over, as I said, Al. by Issa Brothers and private equity group TDR Capital in 2021. Former chairman Lord Rose, who left in November, called Asda's performance embarrassing, and Mr. Layton has admitted it could take up to 5 years to turn things around. On top of all this, Asda is still searching for a permanent CEO. Doesn't help, does it, when you've got instability at the top after the sudden departure of Roger Burnley in 2021? Um, so yeah, as I said, the ongoing leadership void does add to the uncertainty as the company faces all the rising costs, the new recycling levies, National Insurance, and increase in the National Living Wage. Oh, it's a, it's a tricky, tricky time for Asda. And as I said, the, uh, the ripples through the organization is a real concern. When bonuses are cut, especially after a rough year, it can feel like a bit of a gut punch to those who've been putting in the work. Al, thoughts?
[6:12] Al Elliott: Ooh, it's a tough one. I mean, this is the problem I think with anything that is low margin is that, uh, is that the probably the biggest expense is going to be the labour costs. And so therefore when things get a little bit squeezed, then that's the first to kind of get devalued, I suppose. Is that the right word? Um, it's not, I mean, it's not good news. It's funny because, uh, Waitrose is another supermarket and I wanna say like Trader Joe's, but I dunno that I've got that reference right in the US. But basically it's a bit more of an upmarket supermarket, so your prices are probably 50 to 100% more on most things, then probably potentially 500% more on some others. A very, very fancy supermarket. But as you said before, they're doing well because they have the margin to be able to do that
[6:56] Leanne Elliott: Yeah, and I think it's that statistic there that half of Asda employees don't believe in the strategy of Asda moving forward. That's a real red flag, isn't it? And I understand because I don't think Asda has found its place, or we found its place in the market. Like, in the '90s when it was booming, it was a supermarket that was— it was the first supermarket to have like the massive hyper huge supermarkets in the UK, wasn't it? Rotisserie chicken was a thing. Everyone went nuts over rotisserie chicken in Asda. And it just seems that now it's no longer the cheapest because we've got kind of competitors like Lidl and Aldi that have joined. We've not even got that they're kind of the family supermarket because again, with things like Tesco, they do have a lot of Clubcard deals, don't they? Goodness. And then you've got your high end, like your Waitrose and your Marks Spencer's food. I just think that everyone's a bit confused. We don't know what we're doing. We've been sold. We're going through this transition. It doesn't sound like it's been handled particularly well. And now you're punishing 14,000 managers by not giving them their bonus and also not telling that until the point at which it's due. You know, it's just being— it sounds like things are being handled really badly. Of course, there are commercial decisions that need to be made. Of course, financially speaking, this might be the right move. Yeah. As we've always said, and the same with redundancies, it's not about what decision is made, it's how that decision is executed. And once again, we are seeing a, yeah, lacking at a leadership level in terms of how to implement these decisions effectively
[8:23] Al Elliott: Fun fact, when I had my beer business back in 2004, 2005, 2006, it was actually cheaper to buy my alcohol from Asda than it was to buy from the wholesaler