2 days ago
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Workers at the John Lewis Partnership are expected to find out this week whether they will receive their first annual bonus payment in four years.
The retail group, which runs the John Lewis department store chain and Waitrose supermarket business, will also reveal how it has been progressing with its transformation strategy in an update on Thursday 12 March.
It will report its results for the year to January, which will include informing staff over its plans for any potential bonus.
It is still not clear whether the employee-owned business will pay an annual bonus to its staff, whom the retail group call partners. The payment of a bonus is decided by the company’s board.
JLP has not paid an annual bonus to workers since January 2022 amid a major turnaround strategy at the company.
After the coronavirus pandemic, the group shut a number of John Lewis department stores and cut head office jobs in an attempt to shore up its finances.
The company again opted not to hand out a bonus last year, despite tripling its annual profits. Underlying profits rebounded to £126m for the year to January last year, from £42m a year earlier.
Last summer, the company indicated in an internal update that staff could be in line for a bonus if it beat a £200m profit target. A number of frustrated workers had signed an open letter calling on bosses to bring back the bonus after it was not paid out for a third consecutive year.
At its peak during the 1980s, the retailer paid an annual bonus worth as much as 24% of employee salaries.
Last month, JLP said John Lewis and Waitrose partners would receive an inflation-busting 6.9% pay increase as part of a £108m investment in its workforce.
On Thursday, the company will also shed more light on the progress of its major transformation under its chair, Jason Tarry. Its strategy under the former Tesco UK boss has involved pumping more investment into stores, as JLP renewed its focus in its core retail business.
The firm is spending £800m across its stores as part of a long-term investment. It has refurbished 23 Waitrose stores over the past year, as well as five John Lewis shops. It also launched the Topshop brand across all of its 32 department stores last month as part of investment into its fashion offer.
Last month, Tarry also pulled the plug on the partnership’s plans to build about 10,000 rental properties, in order to focus further on retail.
It abandoned the build-to-rent ambitions launched in 2020 under its previous chair, Dame Sharon White, blaming higher costs and caution in the property market.
