Why Morrisons abandoned the four-day working week
Morrisons has ditched its four-day working week for head office employees following complaints from staff about working weekends.
The trade-off for working a four-day week, introduced in 2021 at its office in Bradford, West Yorkshire, was to work 13 Saturdays a year, the equivalent of one every four weeks.
This, however, has proved unpopular with staff with many complaining of unsocial hours.
The grocer will now introduce a four-and-a-half-day working week for its 2,000 employees at its 497 stores next month without the requirement to work on Saturdays.
Meanwhile, rival Asda announced earlier this month that it was bringing in a four-day work week of its own.
The news comes as Morrisons is reportedly closing in on a deal to offload its petrol forecourts as it looks to bring down its soaring debts.
It was revealed it is weeks away from securing a formal agreement with Motor Fuel Group (MFG) – also owned by private equity firm CD&R – to sell its petrol forecourts portfolio for £2.5bn.
An announcement is expected early next month with Morrisons set to use a significant portion of the proceeds to pay down part of its £5.17bn debt pile.
Morrisons’ petrol forecourt business spans 340 sites, with another possible 150 locations being added as MFG pursues its ultra-fast electric vehicle charging network expansion.
MFG was forced to sell 87 of its own forecourts following CD&R’s £7bn takeover of Morrisons in 2021 to alleviate Competition and Markets Authority concerns.
Reports of discussions between the two companies emerged last September and if successful, the move would echo Asda’s acquisition of EG Group’s UK and Ireland business.
