Co-op boss, 54, takes four-month unpaid career break to help her two sons prepare for their GCSEs and A-level exams this year
- Jo Whitfield, 54, said she will step away from business from May for four months
- Chief executive of Co-op food said she would look to help them ‘ease challenge’
- Ms Whitfield took home £1.4mil in 2020, according to company’s annual report
- Firm’s policy states that all colleagues can apply for career break after one year
The head of Co-op food will take a four-month unpaid career break to help her two sons prepare for their GCSEs and A-level exams this year.
Jo Whitfield, 54, said she will step away from the business from May and allow group chief executive Steve Murrells to take day-to-day control of Co-op’s food business.
She said: ‘I always knew that this year would be a big year with my boys undertaking key exams.
‘We decided as a family, that in order to prepare for the inevitable pressure and emotional turmoil that would involve, that when the time came, I would look to spend more time with them to ease the challenge.
‘I can take this time away reassured by the knowledge we have a strong food leadership team who will keep moving our Co-op forward, working with support and guidance from Steve Murrells, our Co-op CEO.’
Her comments follow Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi announcing that students would sit papers after they were cancelled in 2021 for the second year in a row.
But he ruled out an immediate return to the pre-Covid grading system, saying ‘we recognise that those students sitting their GCSEs or A-Levels have had their education disrupted’.
Jo Whitfield (pictured), 54, said she will step away from the business from May and allow chief executive Steve Murrells to take day-to-day control of the Co-op’s convenience food business
Born in St Helens, Merseyside, Ms Whitfield studied Management at Aston University from 1987 to 1991 and married in Manchester in 2003.
She worked at Northern Foods for five years before joining Matalan in 2002 for a further six years, then working at Asda for eight years from 2008.
Ms Whitfield started working as Retail Finance Director for Co-op in April 2016, becoming chief executive of Co-op food around a year later.
She was awarded a CBE in the 2021 New Year Honours list for her services to retail and the food supply chain during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Ms Whitfield, who took home £1.4million in 2020 according to the company’s annual report, will take four months of unpaid leave.
The opportunity to apply for an unpaid leave of absence is available to all Co-op staff, according to the company, and others are said to have taken it previously.
Ms Whitfield (seen working at her local Co-op store) started working as Retail Finance Director for Co-op in April 2016, becoming chief executive of Co-op food around a year later
The supermarket giant’s policy states that all colleagues who have worked there for more than one year can apply for a career break lasting between three to 12 months.
However, if the request is turned down then staff will have to wait another year before being able to apply again.
Workers will usually be able to return to their original role after a career break, unless it is ‘affected by a reorganisation and this isn’t possible’.
The firm states on its website: ‘Here at the Co-op we know there may be times when you want to take an extended period of time off work for personal reasons.
‘We’ll do our best to accept requests for a career break wherever we can, so talk to your manager if you’re considering a career break.’
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