Linsey Taylor, general manager, optical and pharmacy at Asda, has been with the company for 10 years. She has worked in various buying roles, beginning in chilled pizza before moving into chilled foods, and then beers, wine and spirits.

In her current role, Taylor manages 25 head office staff in a team that ensures Asda’s specialist optical and pharmacy departments, which employ about 500 staff, run smoothly.

With the help of two colleagues, Taylor recently won the internal Dragons’ Den competition with an idea based on reducing the amount of stock Asda throws away by having an online auction to sell it to organisations that deal in surplus stock.

On pitching the idea to TV Dragon Peter Jones, Taylor says: “It was a bit scary and he did ask tough questions, but he was very encouraging and gave good advice.”

It is such non-financial benefits that Taylor cites as the biggest reasons many people stay at Asda. “I have made my way through two promotional programmes, so the business has developed me significantly with training and promotion opportunities. That is a benefit of working in a business this size.”

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