Department store giant John Lewis is to cut more than 150 jobs as it unveiled a major restructuring plan to its partners.
The company is to reduce its headcount by 153 roles, about one per cent of its current workforce, which it hopes to achieve by natural attrition and voluntary redundancies. The news was first reported by Retail Week.
John Lewis is to make a “multimillion pound” investment in technology and what it has described as ‘simplification’ would help “improve our customer service and make sure our partners are in the right place, doing the right tasks at the right time.”
It added that it intends to change the hours its partners work “to make sure we’re focused on meeting the needs of customers”.
The current distinction between front and back of store will also come to an end, which John Lewis said will enable more staff to be on the shop floor at during busy periods.
The chain is also to spend £5m on new digital headsets aimed at improving communication in its stores.
It said this could reduce waiting times for shoppers and cut the amount of time its partners spend finding each other.
John Lewis on a ‘mission to go further and faster’
A John Lewis spokesperson said: “We’re seeking to make sure partners are in the right place at the right time to help customers.
“We’re also removing unnecessary tasks, and introducing new technology to make their roles easier.
“We carried out similar changes in Waitrose earlier this year, with customer and partner feedback increasing significantly since. It’s since been ranked the no.1 supermarket for customer satisfaction.”
In March, John Lewis announced a record investment in staff pay despite troubled finances as it looks to mitigate the cost-of-living crisis and retain staff.
The pay increase was effective from April this year and resulted in minimum pay going up around 10 per cent to £12.89 in London and £11.55 elsewhere in the UK.
Also in March, John Lewis Partnership, which is employee-owned, confirmed it would again not pay staff a bonus this year despite it reporting a return to profit.
The partnership, which also includes Waitrose, reported profit before tax of £56m, marking a £290m improvement year-on-year.
Sales across its entire business climbed by just one per cent to £12.6bn, with supermarket sales leading the growth thanks to efforts to lower prices for customers.
John Lewis sales were down four per cent to £4.8bn due to weaker demand for home ware and technology.