Asda scraps physically exhausting 4-day workweek, revealing critical factor in its failure

FILE: An Asda logo sits on an employee's jacket as he works near a display of tinned food inside an Asda supermarket, the U.K. retail arm of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., in Watford, U.K., on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2013. U.K. grocer J Sainsbury Plc plans to buy Walmart Inc.s Asda in a 7.3 billion-pound ($10 billion) deal that would transform the countrys supermarket industry and leave the U.S. retailer as the combined companys biggest shareholder. Our editors select the best archive images of the two supermarket chains. (Credit: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Asda is scrapping plans to introduce a four-day week as complaints from exhausted staff highlighted a vital misstep in successfully implementing shortened working patterns.

The supermarket chain launched a trial to see employees work their 44-hour week over four days instead of five for the same pay. That translated into 11-hour shift patterns for labor-intensive work.