3/30/2017 0 Comments John Lewis Partnership Handbook 2Is John Lewis the best company in Britain to work for? Up and down the country, the 6. At head office in London's Victoria, in 2. John Lewis department stores from Southampton to Aberdeen, 2. Waitrose supermarkets from Plymouth to Norwich, the ritual's the same: a specially chosen staff member (. Over the last decade or so, it has ranged from 9% to 2. It's the percentage of their salary that each John Lewis employee, from executive chairman to checkout operative, takes home as that year's bonus. If the number is 8%, they're looking at an extra month's pay; 1. So what's in the envelope is pretty important, and in the partnership's flagship Oxford Street store, partners, nearly 2,5. I've got a wedding to pay for. Frank d'Souza from furniture (picked because he closed the store's largest single sale of last year, at . He holds the card triumphantly high: 1. That's our deposit complete. That's partly because it stacks its shelves with goods of a certain quality, and sells them to a certain kind of customer with a certain standard of service. After all, Middle England loves John Lewis: if a product is on sale in one of its stores, you know you can trust it. Plus you can be sure you'll be served by someone who really knows what they're talking about and, most unusually of all, is eager to help. Partly, it's down to that splendidly arcane Edwardian slogan: Never Knowingly Undersold. It also has something to do with the reason everyone was cheering so loudly last Thursday: unlike other high- street names (unlike most companies, in fact), John Lewis is owned by a trust on behalf of its employees, each of whom has a say in its running and a share in its profits. This is Britain's largest and most venerable example of worker co- ownership. ![]() Its avowed purpose is not the making of shedloads of short- term profit to placate a bunch of remote and greedy shareholders, but . It bears re- reading). And at a time when the limits of the more traditional capitalist model of shareholder ownership stand cruelly exposed, John Lewis's ongoing success is increasingly prompting all three main political parties to point to it as a possible template ? Well, it's worth noting that there are some partners who weren't at work last week to hear the 2. They were off staying at one of the five holiday centres the partnership owns and runs for the benefit of its employees. These include a 1. Brownsea island in Poole harbour, an imposing Victorian pile on the shores of Lake Windermere, a 2. Lake Bala in north Wales, and a country house hotel in 4,0. Hampshire. Nicola Mc. Roberts and her partner, Pedro Pereira, are staying in one of the 1. ![]() Leckford Estate, near Stockbridge. The self- catering cabins, popular with young families, have two or three bedrooms and are smartly furnished with leather sofas and bedlinen that a John Lewis shopper might recognise. Nicola works in the stationery department in Welwyn, and Pedro is a Waitrose chef. They're here for five nights, at a cost of . They want you to be happy. It also supplies partners with two nine- hole golf courses, a cricket pitch, bowling green, tennis courts, two swimming pools and some of the finest fly- fishing in the country, on the fabled river Test. Just down from the lodges, in the heart of the estate and a stroll from the river, is Leckford Abbas, an appealing ivy- clad manor house now run as a hotel for partners. There's an oak- panelled library, an elegant lounge, a billiard room and a well- stocked bar, and the food in the dining room is fresh from the Leckford estate. The most noticeable difference between this and some chic home counties hostelry is the price. The other significant difference is that the bedroom doors lack keys. There's a feeling it wouldn't be . It's partners and their guests who stay. ![]() The John Lewis Partnership over the last 5 years. If you've any queries please contact us on 03. Renew your Home Insurance policy; Update your Car Insurance policy. John Lewis plc Registered office. ![]() John Lewis Partnership Handbook 2017It's not just the bonus at John Lewis, you know. Besides the bonus, John Lewis partners also have a rare and near- priceless non- contributory final salary pension scheme. They and a named other (husband, girlfriend, mother, whoever) get 2. John Lewis products, and 1. Waitrose. There are half- price theatre and concert tickets; subsidies for whatever educational or leisure course they want to follow; plus a raft of sabbatical and extended leave possibilities. What matters to Ann King, who is on a Leckford art course with Clark, is that . I'm retired, and single now, and it's precious to know there's all this to do, and that everywhere you go you'll meet people you feel you have a connection to. That's partly, says Wenn at the Oxford Street store, . Long before it became a hotel for staff of the two retailers Britain loves best (see the last few Which? There were plenty in the early 2. It was at about this time that he came to the realisation that between them, he, his brother and his father were raking in a sum equal to the combined salaries of everyone else who worked for them. He was determined things should change. Spedan Lewis swapped his stake in the Oxford Street store for total control over Peter Jones, where he instituted shorter hours, longer holidays, and a dose of democracy. Within five years, the Sloane Square store had turned an annual loss of .
John Lewis Partnership Handbook 2 Administering![]() Heartened, he added a partial profit- sharing scheme, then, in 1. John Lewis Partnership Limited (he ran the business, but shared the profits). The ultimate step was an irrevocable trust settlement that turned ownership of the partnership ? Our shareholders aren't passive and distant . The chairman and board run the company's commercial activities, but an 8. And the Partnership council itself is largely elected through a network of forums representing every department of every JL branch and Waitrose supermarket. Opening hours, the canteen, that kind of thing. ![]() You belong to the business, but it belongs to you too. And because you're all partners, there's no backstabbing. Motivation's different. It's not about making a quick profit at the expense of bigger values. The partners' voices really do carry weight. It's not just window- dressing: we decided we didn't want to work on Boxing Day, and we didn't. It's a word the very nice Cardiff managing director, Liz Mihell, hates: . It's shared values, really. Half the new Cardiff employees had no retail experience: what counts in recruitment, says Beth, is behaviour. That feeling extends to the 3. Waitrose's new supermarket in Westfield, the huge upmarket London mall in downmarket Shepherd's Bush. Since the complex opened at the end of 2. Ceira Thom, one rival retailer has had to fire 4. Waitrose has sacked one. John Lewis, we've seen, does more than all right. Employee- owned companies currently contribute some . According to an annual index compiled by a leading law firm, they outperform the FTSE by roughly 1. Research by the Cass Business School indicates that employee- owned businesses also create jobs faster; are significantly more resilient in an economic downturn; deliver far better customer satisfaction; boast substantially higher value added per employee; and, depending on the sector and size of the business, can deliver markedly higher profits (co- owned businesses seem to work best when they've got fewer than 7. So why isn't every company organised this way? Partly, as Lewis points out, because it's not easy. That sets the bar quite high for the commercial success we need. On top of that, we distribute a share of the profits in the form of a bonus, and also in other ways, that will benefit our members collectively. The total amount the partnership redistributes to members, in bonuses and all those benefits, is more than a regular PLC might pay out in dividends, Lewis reckons. But what's best for individuals isn't always best for the business, and achieving a good balance is both hard work and a source of discord between executives and partners (opening hours and pensions are two notable recurring headaches). In fact, as Davies says, a company is about far more than the price of its shares. Firms are social and political, not just economic and financial. In theory, public services are fertile terrain for co- ownership, a great way to harness the strong vocational commitment in the sector. In practice, reckons Nigel Mason, policy director of the Employee Ownership Association, . Westminster also likes the notion that with public service spending cuts inevitable, . Employee ownership, though, is . It won't work if the conditions are such that any independent business would fail. It needs careful thought and planning about ownership and governance structures, and the precise terms of contracts. It can certainly work in some sectors . Big, complex enterprises running on fine margins may be more problematic. But it's worth trying.
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