Supermarket giant Tesco has suffered a major blow to their employer brand and reputation. A job advert for the supermarket chain was posted on the Jobcentre Plus website for a permanent worker, in East Anglia, with a pay package of only expenses and Jobseekers’ Allowance. Tesco, Jobcentre Plus, and the government have all described the posting as an IT error.

Outraged customers, jobseekers and Twitter followers took to the social networking site to voice their disapproval of Tesco’s business integrity. One tweet read: ‘I believe the Governments rebranding Job Seekers Allowance as ‘Tesco Value Wages.’

Such a high profile debacle from Tesco could prove costly to its employer brand reputation as many disapprove of the supermarket looking to exploit workers in the current job climate, where youth unemployment exceeds one million.

Bad publicity continues to haunt the supermarket giant after disappointing Christmas sales saw its worst performance in decades. The job advert has led to suggestions that Tesco isaiming to profit from the government’s work for benefits scheme which casts doubt about their business values and ethics. Another angry observer of the job advert tweeted: ‘ WOW. Great PR job, Tesco. Vacancy for night shift worker on JSA…with no salary just expenses.’

A spokesperson for Tesco insisted the job advert was a mistake and instead, the advert should have been about work experience.

Note: This article has been amended to reflect the fact that the advert was posted on the Jobcentre Plus website, not on Twitter, as was originally reported.