Pets at Home has entered consultation with 2,500 store staff as it moves to a three-tier management structure, which currently includes store, deputy and assistant managers.
The retailer is also dropping the assistant store manager role.
The staff structure on the shop floor at Pets at Home will also be simplified, with the current three tiers of pet care expert, pet care adviser and store assistant model moving to just pet colleague and pet customer expert.
It is understood that most of the current assistant store managers are expected to move to the pet customer expert role, while most store assistants will move into the pet colleague role.
Pets at Home said the restructure was about simplifying a six-layer colleague model that was “no longer fit for purpose”, instead of removing headcount and knowledge from the shop floor.
In a note to employees, chief operating officer Anja Madsen said: “Our goal is to create a simpler, fairer, and more efficient retail business. We want to reshape the way we operate whilst staying true to our purpose, keeping the customer at the heart of everything we do and remaining a pet and colleague-first business.
“We want to remove complexity and outdated legacy ways of working and introduce a more transparent structure. To achieve that, we will be consulting on a range of changes with our retail colleagues.
“This consultation is about ensuring colleagues have more clearly defined roles and responsibilities; they have access to the best training and tools they need to set them up for success; and that pay levels are fair and consistent across roles in store.”
Pets at Home has announced it is investing £7 million into shopfloor pay, with the new roles of pet colleague and pet customer expert receiving an hourly rate of £12.21 and £12.60, respectively, from April.
This goes up to £13.46 and £13.85 for those inside the M25; store and deputy store managers will receive a 2% pay increase.
