John Lewis to shrink senior staff committee as part of turnaround strategy

The household retail name is set to downsize its partnership council by as much as a quarter this autumn, reducing the number from 57 to 43, according to The Telegraph.

The committee is a part of the Partnership’s democratic structure, to which staff are elected and can have a direct input into how the business is run. In extreme cases, the staff council has the power to remove the chair of the retailer.

However, John Lewis bosses have reportedly told staff that it has decided to trim the council’s current structure as it “relies too heavily on hierarchy and escalation”.

Instead, the retailer is said to be bringing back its local forums where staff from its department stores and Waitrose supermarkets will be able to put forward their ideas and views on how the business is being run.

The announcement comes as John Lewis continues its ongoing bid to turnaround the business, by improving productivity and speeding up decision making.

John Lewis reported that it had tripled its profits to £126m in the year to January 25, while sales jumped 3% to £12.8bn for the period.

Chair Jason Tarry said that the business had made “good progress”, before adding that there was “much more still to do”.

“This will involve considerable catch-up investment in our stores and supply chain, underpinned by a strong focus on the core elements of great retail, delivered by our brilliant Partners,” he added.

However, as a fillip to staff, the retailer has also promised to restore its famous staff bonus “as soon as possible”.

“Our bonus remains an important feature of our employee ownership model, and we’ve publicly stated that we are determined to pay one as soon as possible,” a John Lewis spokesperson said last week.

“We’re proud of our varied and unique benefits package and we want to do much more to recognise our brilliant Partners.”