Tesco issues 'ban' on staff habit as customers left 'infuriated'

Tesco has introduced a new rule for its staff to crackdown on a habit that infuriates customer The supermarket giant, which competes with the likes of Lidl, Aldi, Morrisons, Sainsbury's, and Asda, has put a stop to employees wearing headphones on the shop floor, following customer complaints about this annoying habit.

Tesco has made amendments to its dress code in an effort to make the policy more noticeable to its staff. Previously, these guidelines were included in its health and safety handbook, but some employees reported only becoming aware of the policy after a recent update to the uniform rules.

They claimed that managers have begun enforcing it in the past few weeks. The guidelines are believed to be in place to ensure staff can be more attentive to customers if they are approached on the shop floor, as well as for safety reasons.

The policy does not apply to any hearing or sensory devices, or company headsets. This change is thought to be aimed at ensuring staff are more responsive to customer enquiries, reports Birmingham Live.

Last year, Tesco's chief executive Ken Murphy faced criticism over the supermarket's self-service checkouts, which some argued were less accessible for individuals without credit cards, older customers, and certain disabled shoppers. In response, Mr Murphy explained: "What we realised is that for the majority of the time, we can use self-checkouts to liberate people to do things in shops, to make sure that there are products on the shelves, to help people find products if they need it, and to make sure that the shopping trip is a good shopping trip."

On a Reddit forum for staff, workers described the music as "repetitive" and "mentally draining", prompting Asda to issue some feedback. In response to the criticism, an Asda spokesperson said: "We appreciate that colleagues have different tastes in music and we always welcome feedback when making decisions about how our stores operate, including the music played on Asda Radio."