Tescos Executives Come Under Fire

John Allan Tesco Chairman

White men are becoming an endangered species in some of the most senior positions in business as firms try to recruit more women and people from minority ethnic backgrounds, Tesco’s chairman has said at the recent Retail Week Live conference.

John Allan Tescos boss (born in 1948) is a British businessman; the chairman of the supermarket chain Tesco, the housebuilder Barratt Developments and the card-processor Worldpay. Mr Allan later said his comments were meant to be humorous in nature.

Tesco shareholders however may not share the joke. Tesco executives have faced a backlash in recent years from shareholders over rewards for top executives and low pay for staff. According to the Guardian one independent investor told a packed shareholder meeting that the supermarket should adopt a new slogan: “We do not pay the living wage but we do make our executives millionaires for failure.” 

Tesco is to reimburse 140,000 current and former staff members a total of £9.7m after payroll errors meant they were paid below the national minimum wage. The error was uncovered during the implementation of a new payroll system, Tesco said.

Britain’s biggest supermarket chain said the majority of workers affected would receive up to £40. Tesco employs 320,000 people in the UK.

 A review of its systems found that mistakes had been made for some workers who paid into voluntary schemes such as pensions, childcare vouchers, and cycle to work programmes. As a result, their pay after such salary sacrifice did not reach national minimum wage levels.

The current national minimum wage is £7.20 an hour for workers who are 25 and over and £6.95 for 21- to 24-year-olds.

Image: Every little counts for Tesco workers