Supermarket giant Morrisons is to create 2,240 new cleaning jobs as it invests to increase hygiene standards.
The programme is being rolled out across all 494 stores, where a deep-clean will be performed every three weeks.
Brand new equipment is also being brought in, on top of the £25 million injected into store safety measures to protect staff and customers from the coronavirus risk.
Perspex screens, PPE for colleagues, signage and floor markings were all added during lockdown.
Jayne Wall, operations director at Bradford-based Morrisons, one of the UK’s big four supermarkets, said: “The hygiene within our stores has become more important than ever due to the impact of Covid-19. We want to make sure our customers feel as safe as possible when doing their grocery shopping with us. So we’ve made this multi-million-pound investment to introduce first class hygiene procedures.”
All stores will see a new Market Street hygiene assistant appointed to clean food preparation areas across the fresh store concept.
It will ensure other staff can concentrate on producing the products for its butcher, baker, fishmonger, deli, greengrocer and florist departments.
Morrisons is unique in preparing and making more than half of the fresh food sold in its stores, with seafood a huge operation in Grimsby, with two large processing sites.
Additionally, nearly 30,000 more hours each week will be put into Morrisons existing housekeepers and core cleaning roles. This will see more areas across its stores - such as toilets, shelving and ‘high touch’ areas - being cleaned even more frequently to protect colleagues and customers.
New Welcome Cleaning Stations are also being fitted at all store entrances providing antibacterial wipes for baskets and trolleys, as well as hand sanitiser.
