New Morrisons Rule Keeps Staff on Shop Floor to Boost Customer Engagement

Morrisons has told “idling” shop floor staff they will no longer be allowed access to stockrooms as the supermarket races to boost customer service ratings.

The retailer has written to staff to tell them that new restrictions will mandate which staff are allowed in supermarket backrooms, adding it wanted to ensure it had “the right colleagues in the right place to deliver the best service to customers at all times”.

Only authorised managers and staff will be allowed to enter stores’ warehouse areas from August. This will include staff who scan in deliveries and those dealing with online orders.

Morrisons said it will assign some customer assistants to storerooms, but others will be blocked from entering the shop warehouses under the new changes.

It said this will enable it to focus on “availability and service at the shelf edge for our customers and remove idle time”.

A spokesman for the company said the move was “part of our relentless drive to improve customer service and availability”. They said the changes will make its warehouses more efficient and allow it to replenish shelves quicker.

Supermarkets are driving to improve customer service as they battle to win shoppers.

Last November, the Telegraph revealed that Tesco had banned shop floor staff from wearing headphones at work. The rules were included in the retailer’s official dress code, having previously just been included in its health and safety guidelines.

Morrisons has for years lagged rivals on customer satisfaction. In the latest UK Customer Satisfaction Index earlier this month, Morrisons ranked lower than Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Aldi, M&S and Ocado for shoppers with a score of 79.1. However, the researchers behind the index said this marked Morrisons’ highest rating since July 2018.

The supermarket has signalled it is stepping up efforts to improve service amid concerns that customers are drifting to rivals.

The latest data from Kantar revealed that Morrisons’ share of the grocery market dipped to 8.4pc in May compared to 8.6pc a year earlier. This is down from around 9.4pc in 2022.

Recently, Morrisons ordered staff working in its head office back to a full working week. It abandoned a previous policy which had allowed them to work compressed hours over four-and-a-half days. Under the changes, staff will still be allowed to work both from home and the office.

The company said the change was being made “in the context of a relentlessly competitive UK grocery market and widespread increased cost pressures”.

The overhaul is being spearheaded by Rami Baitiéh, who joined as Morrisons chief executive in late 2023. Last month, the supermarket said sales grew 4.2pc to £3.9bn in the 13 weeks to April 27, versus a year earlier.

Mr Baitiéh said the figures showed it had “bounced back strongly” after cyber issues in November.

It follows a series of shake-ups within the company. In March, Morrisons unveiled plans to axe hundreds of jobs and shut dozens of cafes. Mr Baitiéh said they were a “necessary part of our plans to renew and reinvigorate Morrisons”.

Source: The Telegraph