Waitrose and John Lewis store employees will get more say in how the business is run, following a shake-up of the John Lewis Partnership’s democratic structure which it claimed would speed up decision making.
JLP is to reintroduce Local Partner Forums to “every site”. The bodies will be chaired by an elected rep, and will give store staff another route to raise issues or proposals – for example ideas about staff benefits or in-store displays – to be considered by the partnership’s leadership team and council.
JLP scrapped local forums in 2019 under chairman Charlie Mayfield, in favour of larger regional forum meetings. The re-established local forums will operate alongside regional meetings, giving partners “the best possible set-up to have their voices heard”, the partnership said.
JLP has said it will also shrink the number of partners that sit on its 58-strong partnership council, its most senior staff committee. It rejected claims that it could be cut by as much as a quarter to 43 members, as reported by The Telegraph. JLP did not provide more detail on a specific number.
Partners have been told the business “relies too heavily on hierarchy and escalation”, according to The Telegraph.
The changes come as part of JLP’s triannual review of its democratic structure, which coincides with the ending of the current three-year term of the partnership council. When they are introduced in October, the changes would “speed up” decision making at the partnership, as it pushes on with its turnaround plan.
All had been discussed with the partnership committee and signed off by the Trustees of the Constitution, the partnership claimed.
“Whenever our three-year council term concludes, we review how to make our democratic model even more effective,” a JLP spokesman said. “This will see a stronger focus on local forums to raise local partner opinion alongside a tighter partnership council to support faster decision making.”
He added: “The updates have been made in close consultation with our partners and the power of our council, and the vital role it plays in governing our business remains unchanged.”
JLP’s employee-owned model
The John Lewis Partnership operates under a democratic structure which was introduced by founder John Spedan Lewis. As the business is employee-owned, it is meant to give partners an overall say in how it operates, governed by a set of guiding principles outlined in its constitution.
The partnership committee sits below the partnership’s executive board and chairman Jason Tarry. Members regularly vote on the business strategy, staff benefits and its hallowed partnership bonus. They also have the power to vote to change the constitution and remove the chairman in extreme circumstances.
Former chairman Sharon White faced a media storm in March 2023 following a report in The Sunday Times that the business was considering “watering down” its employee-ownership model, by selling a minority stake to an outside investor. The business insisted it remained committed to the model.
The latest news comes as the business faces renewed pressure from thousands of current and former partners who have called on JLP to reinstate its annual bonus, after a tripling of profits last year. The retailer maintains it will restore the bonus “as soon as possible” once it has made further investments into improving its stores and supply chain.
John Lewis partners are set to meet at its annual group meeting on 12 June this week.
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