Despite this weeks restructuring announcement that some Line Managers are to be displaced or demoted and the prospect of Trading Managers being demoted to Line Managers (with a substantial pay decrease) Tesco is to continue its intake of univeristy graduates despite the poor economic climate at the moment. The chain has 100 places for former students on fifteen different schemes, from legal services to property and engineering. The firm also takes on students for its commercial division, including buying and merchandising.
Applications for this year’s schemes, starting in September, closed in December last year. They proved very popular with the graduate sector as 16,000 applications were received for the 100 places.
Tesco is keen to take on graduates, as the firm recognises the assets they bring to the corporation, and how the tough economic situation affects university leavers. However Store Staff and Managers are left incredulous, with the announcement, stores are being tasked more and more to meet their almost impossible wage budgets, Customer assistants are placed under more and more pressure to deliver in environments with decreasing morale, line managers are now left in no doubts that they will not recieve good reviews if they do not stay additional hours, as this is the message being given by the Operations Directors – Store Directors – Store Managers – Line Managers (article to follow with recording of a actual Store Managers conference call!)
Tescos is seen as a timebomb by some experts, putting more and more pressure onto Stores and distribution, whilst those in their ivory towers fiddle with their numbers, targetting, forecasting and take critical responsibilities away from the managers in-store. The centralisation of the company is nearing completion and experts are now predicting that the ‘brain drain’ seen so far at Director level will soon filter to Store Managers & Line Managers as they realise that they are no longer able to actually ‘manage’ – they are simply there to do the Mighty Head Offices orders.
And whilst the might of Tesco seems to be containing the bad news due to the meekness of the British press, The future of Tesco as market leader is certainly in doubt.
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