By Laura McGuire
Close to 10,000 Asda employees have received incorrect payslips following an IT glitch.
An internal memo to senior staff, first seen by The Telegraph, said thousands of hourly paid workers had been impacted by the mishap, with union bosses reporting some had been underpaid.
It was disclosed by the outlet that some employees had as much as two weeks wages missing from their pay docket.
In a letter to store managers on Thursday, Asda bosses said: “During our payroll checks, we have currently identified around 9,500 hourly paid colleagues who are impacted by incorrect pay, due to what we believe is an issue with a specific holiday calculation as we have moved to our new systems.
“Colleagues’ payslips may not show correctly so please reassure colleagues that we are aware of this and are making the relevant adjustments to ensure that colleagues receive payment by Friday payday.”
The chaos comes as Asda owners, billionaire brothers Mohsin and Zuber Issa and TDR Capital attempt to detangle IT systems from the supermarkets former owners Walmart.
Hundreds of employees have been drafted in to work on the migration, which the outlet said has been dubbed “Project Future.”
A GMB Union member told the Telegraph: “GMB has been made aware of numerous and significant issues relating to our members’ pay being incorrect and underpaid as a result of the change in Asda’s pay and people systems this payday.
“Being underpaid can cause huge levels of stress and anxiety, particularly as the majority of Asda’s workers are low-paid.”
Meanwhile an Asda spokesperson said: “We recently launched a new HR system and conducted pre-emptive checks to identify any potential issues before colleagues were paid this month.
“These checks found a potential problem with holiday pay that could have resulted in a pay discrepancy for some hourly paid colleagues. We have taken immediate and proactive steps to correct this – to help ensure there will be no shortfall in pay for these colleagues this month. Project Future will give Asda a world-class IT platform.”
City A.M. has contacted both parties for a comment.
The billionaire brothers and private equity firm took over the supermarket in a debt-fuelled £6.8bn swoop back in 2021.
A string of controversies have followed since. Most recently it was unveiled its Big Four accountant EY quit as the grocer’s auditor last summer.
Mohsin Issa, one half of the billionaire family duo, also confirmed he will be stepping back from the day-to-day running of the business.
In a shock move, Mr Issa told the BBC he was carrying out a “reset” at the grocer before appointing a chief executive.
The businessman said he was “here for the long haul,” despite the supermarket navigating a £5bn debt pile.
