Sainsbury's says immigrants have 'better work ethic' than Britons

The supermarket chain said it hopes the diligent approach of Eastern Europeans and other new arrivals will spread to domestic workers.

"We have found migrant workers to have a very satisfactory work ethic, in many cases superior to domestic workers," the company said in evidence to a parliamentary inquiry on the economic impact of immigration.

"We believe that this results from their differing motivations, they want to learn English, or send money home to their families.

"They tend to be more willing to work flexibly, and be satisfied with their duties, terms and conditions and productivity requirements. In the long term, this could have a positive effect on their domestic colleagues."

Sainsbury's said its use of immigrant labour in retail and distribution had "grown significantly" in the past two years, though it does not keep figures for how many of its 150,000-strong workforce are migrants.

The growth in numbers has coincided with the arrival of more than 700,000 workers from Poland and other Eastern European countries since EU expansion in 2004.

They have been praised for their hardworking attitude. Many have two jobs, in order to raise as much money as possible to send home, or to invest in property.

Business leaders say that, in many cases, highly-qualified graduates are willing to take unskilled jobs in supermarkets, doing shelfstacking or other manual work. Others have risen quickly to managerial posts.

Sainsbury's said even more migrant workers were likely in its stores.

The statement to the House of Lords economic affairs select committee said: "We anticipate that the use of migrant workers will increase within Sainsbury's, as the UK population declines, and it will also help us, in part, to address the problem of an ageing population.

"We have been able to utilise immigrant labour to improve our business performance by filling pressing gaps in both skilled and unskilled areas."

The supermarket chain stressed that it had seen a "positive shift in culture where migrant workers have been introduced, which has led to a more diverse workforce fostering a more engaged group of workers".

It also admitted that the influx of immigrant employees had led it to reappraise some of its work practices, such as greater flexibility - to allow Polish HGV drivers to return home regularly - which had benefited the wider workforce.

Sainsbury's said that more could be done to help migrant workers get advice on housing, banking, language and understanding the UK culture.

"Language barriers are a disadvantage, and migrants understanding of health and safety requirements are naturally a major concern," said the company.

It has changed its signs in warehouses and other non-customer areas so they are also translated into Eastern European languages.

Migrant workers are placed with English-speaking colleagues and fellow employees are used as interpreters.

Business leaders say that because graduates from Eastern Europe are willing to take non-graduate jobs, UK nationals without degrees are left with nowhere to turn.

The British Chambers of Commerce warned that a generation of British children is in danger of going "from school straight to welfare" while migrants fill skill shortages in the economy.

Director general David Frost said 500,000 18 to 24-year-olds were out of work.

Normally at such levels employers would find they had a shortage of workers - but nobody noticed because immigrants had taken their place.

Professor David Blanchflower, who sits on the Bank of England's monetary policy committee, suggested to the peers that immigration from Eastern Europe had dampened down wage growth because it had increased the "fear of unemployment" because more workers were available for jobs.