Tesco imposes new rule on staff to crackdown on habit that infuriates customers

This change is understood to be aimed at ensuring staff are more responsive to customer queries.

However, the ban excludes those using hearing assistance or sensory devices, as well as company headsets.

The supermarket giant's move comes amid declining customer satisfaction scores, according to the Institute of Customer Service.

The Institute of Customer Service reports that Tesco's customer satisfaction scores have declined over the past two years.

Scores dropped from 81.7 to 79.4 out of 100 in the most recent assessment.

Despite the supermarket's declining score, Tesco maintains that its customer satisfaction scores are improving, according to its latest results.

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Tesco employs a staggering 311,531 people across the UK, with almost 5,000 stores spanning across all four corners of the country.

The supermarket giant is also hoping to recruit 1,200 seasonal staff in Ireland ahead of an expected increase in demand in the run-up to Christmas.

In a similar move, rival supermarket Asda has recently switched to playing unlicensed music in its stores, drawing criticism from staff.

Asda made the change in February, replacing their usual playlist with songs by unsigned artists.

The move is reportedly aimed at avoiding expensive royalty payments.

However, some Asda employees have expressed dissatisfaction with the new music selection.

On a Reddit forum for staff, workers described the music as "repetitive" and "mentally draining".

Responding to the criticism, a spokesman for Asda said: "We appreciate that colleagues have different tastes in music and we always welcome feedback when making decisions about how our stores operate, including the music played on Asda Radio."