The owner of John Lewis & Waitrose is considering cutting up to 11,000 jobs over the next five years after the retail group cut its redundancy terms this week.
At least 10% of the employee-owned business's 76,000-strong workforce could be located at the group's headquarters, supermarkets and department stores, the people said.
Officials said department leaders are working on a plan and the number of roles in the business will be gradually reduced over several years, with no layoffs or replacement of departed staff. It is said that
Last March, John Lewis warned of potential job cuts as part of plans to cut costs and use technology to improve efficiency. The group has already cut thousands of jobs over the past few years, partly through store closures, including 16 department stores and several supermarkets.
John Lewis bosses are on course to cut up to 11,000 roles as part of its latest turnaround plan amid rising salaries and other costs and weak sales, a well-informed source said. They were said to have been talking. Another person said the figures had been explained to some staff by some executives as the company struggles to recover from a full-year loss of 230 million pounds.
John Lewis Partnership (JLP), which is owned by employees through a trust, wrote to employees this week telling them it would cut redundancy pay conditions in half and provide one week's pay. The scale of workforce reductions has become clear. Those who are laid off from February 1st will serve one year instead of two years.
One staffer, known as a partner because he co-owns the business, said the announcement of the job cuts was particularly galling because it had just come after several senior executives left on more generous contracts.
JLP told staff it was making the changes because the current package was “higher than common market practice and involves significant costs.” He said there was a need to “free up cash” with “more affordable” policies.
In addition to the statutory redundancy allowance, the company offers a “Partnership Redundancy'' package. The allowance is set by the government at one week's work per year for those aged 22 and over, and 1.5 weeks for those aged 41 and over, and is capped at just over £19,000.
In an internal memo published on Thursday, first reported by the Telegraph, the John Lewis Partnership said: You're not able to move as quickly as you would like to transform yourself for the future, limiting your ability to invest further into your salary. ”
In addition, the minimum amount of redundancy pay for those not eligible for the full partnership package will be increased from one week to four weeks, in order to “strengthen support for those with shorter tenures who are affected by redundancies”. added.
The announcement prompted a flurry of angry posts on the group's internal message boards, with one employee saying it was “another example of major changes impacting partners being made without dialogue with them.”
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Some called for an emergency meeting of the Partnership Council, a group that gives owner-workers a democratic voice through elected representatives from across the business.
One staff member told the Guardian: [redundancies]”
A JLP spokesperson said: “What we are doing is cost-neutral and the redundancy savings are reinvested directly into partners' salaries, so it's a balancing act.”
News of the reduction in redundancy conditions was sent by email and then posted on the company intranet where staff were not informed of the discussions at the partnership council.
JLP said the matter had been referred to council and the group's democratic process had been followed, but the meeting was not livestreamed to staff.
