London, January 26: Sainsbury's, a supermarket company based in London, the UK, announced that it would reduce its workforce by cutting 3,000 jobs and shut down its cafes and food counters for patisserie and pizzas. The UK-based retailer said that the move of Sainsbury's layoffs will help the company to simplify its business. Besides relieving thousands of workers from their roles, Sainsbury's would reduce 20% senior managers from the company, stating that the retail business faced a challenging "cost environment."

Retail businesses struggled last year, with many leading companies cutting jobs to save costs, restructure their business, adopt automation, or permanently shut down operations. In addition to the tech sector, retail, automobile, manufacturing, and allied businesses laid off hundreds to meet the challenging business environment and bring down their costs. Layoffs 2025: Germany’s Adidas and Puma Sportswear Companies To Lay Off Employees To Tackle Global Challenges and Improve Profitability, Say Reports.

Sainsbury's Layoffs and Cost-Saving Plan

Sainsbury's has already announced its plans to save GBP 1 billion in the coming few years, and the job cuts are part of the company's efforts to tackle the rising cost of labour. Sainsbury's CEO Simon Roberts said that the company had tough choices that helped it invest money and do things differently. Roberts said their choices would help the company become more efficient and effective. 

The layoffs were announced amid the warning by the UK's largest retailers about cutting thousands of roles and raising prices as a result of Labour's budget to increase employer national insurance contribution to likely USD 25 billion. The budget is also said to increase the country's national minimum wage by 6.7%. After the supermarket chain said to reduce headcounts, a spokesperson said that the "difficult decisions" in the budget could open new ways for the country's economic growth.

Paul Travers, Regional Officer at Unite the Union, said that the lowest-paid workers were paying the price for corporate greed. He mentioned that Sainsbury's was a "hugely profitable" firm that made half a billion in profit the previous year. UK PM's official addressed the supermarket layoffs and connection with the budget and said that the country's government would prioritise putting more money in the people's pockets. CNN Layoffs: US-Based Media Firm Laying Off 200 Employees From TV Business Amid Its Shift To Focus on Digital Audience, Know What It Means for News Industry

Sainsbury's is set to close its remaining patisserie and counters for hot food and pizza, move towards more popular items in regular shopping aisles, and offer "self-serve" bread slicing.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 26, 2025 07:16 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).