Tesco staff reap £200m share scheme rewards

SUPERMARKET chain Tesco said last night its directors and staff would share a rewards package worth almost £200 million.

The group, based in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, said employees, including chief executive Terry Leahy and his board, would receive £196m in incentive bonuses and share schemes.

The figure includes £11m for the board, with Mr Leahy winning short and long-term share awards totalling £1.98m. His total annual salary and benefits package rose by just under 5% to £2.98m.

New non-executive chairman David Reid, who resigned as an executive director in December, received short and long-term share awards totalling £1.94m, while his total package rose 4.4% to £2.7m.

Irish workers will not benefit from the payout as they are covered by a separate but similar deal confined to Tesco’s Irish operations, the company said.

The company revealed the news as it published its annual report for 2003. Last month, it announced record annual pre-tax profits of £1.6 billion, a rise of 17.6% on a year earlier.

The group also said today that it would create 20,000 jobs in the UK and overseas this year.

A spokesperson said about 160,000 staff would benefit from incentive bonuses and share schemes.

The firm employs 326,000 people, 237,000 of whom work in the UK.

The news came a day after it emerged that Tesco is trying out a scheme under which workers who take up to three days off sick will not be paid.

If they are ill for more than three days, workers can claim sick pay and compensation for the previous unpaid days.

Tesco has introduced the policy only in new stores and the terms were explained to staff before they joined, a spokesperson said.

It is one of three among trials designed to incentivise staff to avoid taking unplanned days off.

Asked if chief executive Mr Leahy would be subject to the policy, a spokesperson said: “I’m sure he will.”

Some 11,000 of the 20,000 new jobs this year will be based in the UK.

The company said the staff would work at 64 stores around the UK and 37 hypermarkets overseas.