Tesco says it is in 'early stage discussions' with Irish managerial staff about a voluntary redundancy programme.

The retailer says the talks are to see if any of them want to be re-deployed to other roles - or if they want to leave the company.

It follows a recent review, which aims to see more workers on the shop floor helping customers.

However, a spokesperson says the programme is completely optional for staff.

In a statement, Tesco says "With over 2.5 million customer transactions per week and 15,000 employees, we keep the structures of our business under constant review to ensure that we offer the best possible service to customers."

"We are in early stage discussions with some of our departmental managers in stores to see if any wish to be redeployed to other roles or whether any would wish to apply for voluntary redundancy," it adds.

Tesco says it cannot speculate on the final outcomes at this early stage.