Values & Culture

Our people say we’re a terrific place to work. They say we’re ‘exciting’, ‘rewarding’, ‘enjoyable’. If that sounds like the kind of place you want to work, bringing your skills to Sainsbury’s is a move you won’t regret.

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Sainsbury’s company vision

Our vision is to be the most trusted retailer, where people love to work and shop. That means harnessing the talent, creativity and diversity of our colleagues to ensure that customers receive great service every time they shop with us.

If you would like to hear more about our vision and values, be sure to visit our corporate page.

We invest in training, development and multiple initiatives to ensure our teams feel enabled to offer the best shopping experience to our customers and that Sainsbury’s is truly a ‘Great Place to Work’.

So, where does being a ‘Great Place to Work’ begin?

How about offering an environment where everyone can thrive? Somewhere over 185,000 colleagues can become the best versions of themselves? We think that’s a pretty good place to start. And it’s all part of our journey to becoming the most inclusive retailer.

But we also need to understand what a great place to work means for our colleagues. That’s why listening and creating conversations across our business is so important. And we do this through our listening groups and employee engagement survey. Plus, our CEO Simon Roberts holds regular one-hour Q&A sessions on Yammer (our internal social media platform).

And listening – really listening – has shaped the strategy that’s being led by our Diversity Steering Group, and Diversity Champions.

Community comes first

Of course we want our business to reflect the communities we serve. And we’re happy to say our workforce is representative of the UK population. We’re also doing all we can to help our underrepresented colleagues achieve and progress. As well as being members of Business In The Community for Race, we’re a founding member of Empower. Both offer a range of fantastic mentoring and leadership programmes for our BAME colleagues.

Celebrating everyone’s ability

When it comes to working with disability, we want to be a leader here too. Our Paralympic commitment is helping to create a fantastic legacy. And, as well as sitting on the Paralympic Legacy Advisory Group, we take an active role in the Government’s Disability Confident campaign. In 2017, we were delighted to gain Disability Confident Leader status (the highest level of accreditation). We’re also partners of the Business Disability Forum, and our ‘You Can’ programme has attracted over 26,000 colleagues of diverse abilities to work here.

Crucially, we’re one of few FTSE 100 companies with a carers policy. We’ve worked with Carers UK for 15 years. And every summer, we get behind Carers Week, when many of our stores across the country host events to raise awareness of local support and community groups. We’ve also invested in the Carers UK’s Jointly App to make life easier for colleagues who are juggling caring responsibilities with work.

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Proud allies

We’re thrilled to be members of Stonewall’s Diversity Champions programme. But we also have our own LGBTA (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and allies) colleague network, Proud@Sainsbury’s. Created in 2014, this network has two co-chairs and holds quarterly events, bringing together likeminded colleagues and informing our approach. Last year, we took part in 30 Pride events across the UK, including London, Brighton and Manchester. This year, we want to be at even more!

Wellbeing, above all

Supporting the physical, emotional and financial wellbeing of our colleagues really matters. And it’s something we take very seriously. To this end, we offer a range of wellbeing programmes, initiatives and education, like our Employee Assistance Programme, to do just that.