The John Lewis Partnership (JLP) has announced that it plans to reduce the size of its Head Office operations by up to 1,500 roles between now and April next year as part of efforts to make cost savings of £300m a year by 2022.
The group said the move was the next phase of its five-year turnaround plan unveiled last month which aims to restore profit growth. JLP has committed to investing £1bn to accelerate its online business, modernise its shops and product offering, and improve customer service. However, the group had warned that this would be funded by cost savings with it looking to make operational efficiencies throughout the business.
JLP stated that a key part of the plan is to create “an agile, and flexible head office that is even closer to customers and frontline Partners”. The group said the reduction in Head Office roles will be achieved by simplifying how it works and delayering structures. The changes are expected to save another £50m on top of £50m of recent efficiencies, which contributes to its £300m target.
JLP stressed it will be consulting with affected staff about the proposals and seek to find them new jobs in the business if their roles become redundant.
The group also announced today that Patrick Lewis, its Executive Director of Finance, was leaving the business at the end of this year following a 26-year career. He will be succeeded by Bérangère Michel, currently Executive Director of Customer Service and former Finance Director for John Lewis.
As part of the changes to Head Office, the size of the JLP’s Executive Team will also reduce as it will not be recruiting a new Executive Director for Customer Service. Instead those responsibilities will transfer to James Bailey, Executive Director for Waitrose and Pippa Wicks, Executive Director for John Lewis.
Commenting on the changes, Chairman Sharon White said: “Our Partnership Plan sets a course to create a thriving and sustainable business for the future. To achieve this we must be agile and able to adapt quickly to the changing needs of our customers.”
She added: “Losing Partners is incredibly hard as an employee-owned business. Wherever possible, we will seek to find new roles in the Partnership and we’ll provide the best support and retraining opportunities for Partners who leave us.”
The latest job losses come on top of 1,300 staff cuts when John Lewis closed eight of its department stores this year. At the end of 2019, the creation of new cross-Partnership roles and the greater integration of the two retail brands, saw the group cut around 75 senior management head office roles.
NAM Implications:
- For JLP, these changes involve a cultural dimension.
- i.e. the removal of 1,500 profit-sharing partners from the mix.
- Also any reduction in office resource means more networking for NAMs…
- …as they try to increase availability by working around the gaps…
