As Asda has scrapped its four-day working week trial for store managers, we take a look at which UK supermarkets are offering flexible working and what these policies involve.

Asda first began trialling a four-day working week for store managers in 20 stores in September 2023 in an attempt to stop disgruntled managers “leaving in their droves”, according to The Telegraph.

However, the supermarket giant has since halted the trial, which saw staff working a 44-hour week over four days rather than five for the same pay, after staff claimed that longer shifts from condensed hours were “physically demanding,” the newspaper reported.

In a bid to continue offering flexible working, a spokesperson for the grocer said that a trial involving 39 hours in five days, with no reduction in pay, is proving to be more successful and will continue until the end of 2024.

In 2020, Morrisons introduced four-day working weeks, which required staff in its Bradford head office to work 13 Saturdays across the year, however it is understood that this had not been favoured among head office workers.

As a result, in February Morrisons introduced new flexible working hours, moving to a four-and-a-half-day week.

Under the changes, around 2,000 staff members continue to work 37.5 hours, however this is across a four-and-a-half-day week, with Saturday working no longer required.

According to The Times, Sainsbury’s started offering its staff the option of working a four-day week in February 2023.

Workers based at its head offices in Holborn, Coventry and Milton Keynes as well as its warehouses, and store managers in its 1,400 UK stores were given the option to work their 37.5-hour contracts in a seven-day week, which means some head-office workers could work on a Saturday and take a day off in the week, or could work longer weekday hours.

However, they would not be permitted to take consecutive Fridays off from work.

At the time, a Sainsbury’s spokesperson said: “We are always looking to evolve our ways of working to ensure we can do the best possible job for customers while continuing to be a brilliant place to work for our colleagues.

“We are currently testing new ways to be more efficient and offer improved flexibility.”

In November 2022, M&S launched a flexible working scheme to offer its retail employees and store managers a better work/life balance.

The Worklife scheme, which officially began in January 2023, offers over 3,000 retail managers additional days and hours to their shifts.

Store managers can choose whether to spread their hours over five days or work a four-day ‘compressed’ week.

It came following a successful trial across 100 M&S stores, with 75% of the retail managers who took part saying that the compressed hours had a positive impact on their family life, and 73% said it had a positive effect on time for themselves.

At the time, M&S group HR director Sarah Findlater said: “Retail is a fast-paced industry but that shouldn’t mean missing out on the moments that matter.

“Whether caring commitments, the chance to get involved in your local community or to prioritise your own mental and physical wellbeing.

“We’ve listened to colleagues and are determined to create a cultural shift to flexible working across our stores. Those retail managers taking part in our compressed hours trial agree it’s been a gamechanger by giving them more choice and autonomy.”

In August 2023, Tesco became the first major UK supermarket to offer staff new flexible working rights, with more than 300,000 workers able to request flexible working patterns from their first day in the job.

Tesco said the move gives staff “greater choice and flexibility in their working patterns and help to attract and retain talent”.

At the time, Tesco UK people director James Goodman said: “We think giving people the right to start a conversation about flexible working from their first day, or even before they start work for Tesco, is the right thing to do to give colleagues the opportunity for a healthy work-life balance.

“We aim to create a positive culture at Tesco where managers will do as much as they can to facilitate these requests for flexibility.”

Upmarket retailer Waitrose offers a range of flexible working arrangements including part-time, job share, reduced hours, compressed hours, term-time hours, seasonal working, home working and hybrid working.

A Waitrose spokesperson said: “We know that flexible working has become a priority for many, and looks different according to individual needs.

“That’s why we offer a broad range of flexible working options, which include hybrid working and compressed hours, as well as our unique and industry-leading equal parental leave benefits.”

In July 2022, Lidl gave office staff the option to work from home permanently through a flexible working model.

Where appropriate, head office and regional staff can choose to work remotely as often as they like, except when specific circumstances require them to attend an office.

At the time of the announcement, Lidl GB posted to LinkedIn: “We have moved to a fully flexible model of mobile working for appropriate head office and regional roles, empowering our teams to choose how and where they work best.

“We feel it is important that, where possible, we offer our colleagues as much flexibility as possible and trust our teams to determine the right environments that work most effectively for them.”