A group of staff at the Co-op have raised concerns about a “toxic culture” at the group, which positions itself as built upon ethical values.
Some Co-op senior managers have written to the board to flag “fear and alienation” in an environment where people are scared of bringing up concerns in front of the company’s leaders, including chief executive Shirine Khoury-Haq, the BBC has reported.
The letter, seen by the broadcaster, claimed to reflect the opinion of many senior managers, and was emailed to the Co-op’s chair and another board member over a fortnight ago. It claimed that “leadership behaviours have significantly degraded the leadership culture of our Co-op”.
Other sources reportedly said that a culture they believe discourages challenge has resulted in a hit to morale, staff exits and poor trading performance.
Lawyers for the Co-operative Group told the BBC it did not recognise the criticisms, and does “not believe that they represent the views of our broader leadership and colleagues”.
The BBC reported that “several sources at senior manager level” have told it that they agree with the contents of the letter in full and they personally have felt intimidated and afraid to speak up in front of the most senior executives.
According to the letter, the Co-op acted quickly in response to a disruptive cyber attack last year, but in response to media coverage of empty shelves, stores were restocked with any product available, even if inappropriate, resulting in an impact to sales and profits and an increase in food waste.
A Co-op spokesperson said: “Given the challenging nature of these events, we had to make many difficult and decisive choices.” They said the business has a solid financial position.
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