The Co-operative is to slash its man hours making the equivalent of 290 full-time redundancies.
The supermarket is in discussions with staff at 35 stores as it looks to decide the “optimum number of working hours required to run each store”.
The Co-operative said the net result of its staffing review will be an additional 44,000 working hours, to be introduced during the first quarter of 2012 across its network of more than 2, 800 stores.
It said many of these additional hours are likely to be fulfilled by existing staff, but a significant number of new jobs will also be created.
“Unfortunately, however, there will be a reduction in the total number of working hours at a small number of stores. We are now in discussions with colleagues at 35 stores to outline the impact of this and how it will be implemented," a spokesperson for The Co-operative Group said.
He added: “We have conducted a review of staffing levels at our stores to introduce fairer and more consistent standards across The Co-operative estate.
“This includes introducing a more accurate way of determining the optimum number of working hours required to run each store, while maintaining a consistent level of service across all our outlets.”
No comments yet