The employee-owned UK retailer behind John Lewis department stores and Waitrose supermarkets, owned by its 74,000 Partners.
The John Lewis Partnership is a British retailer that owns John Lewis and Waitrose. John Lewis is a chain of department stores with an online business, and Waitrose is a supermarket chain. A trade body profile describes it as the UK's largest employee-owned business and lists 50 John Lewis shops plus an outlet and 337 Waitrose shops across the UK, along with a soft furnishings factory, distribution centres, three Waitrose cookery schools and its own Waitrose farm.
It is owned by its staff. They are called Partners, and the company says it is employee-owned, "which means every one of our 74,000 Partners has a say in how we do things." Its stated purpose is "building a happier world for everyone." It says it believes in fairness, transparency and doing business the right way, and that it treats people with fairness, courtesy and respect. The trade body profile puts the number of Partners at over 80,000, so counts differ by source and date.
The business began in 1864, when John Lewis opened a small draper's shop on Oxford Street, London. In 1914 his son John Spedan Lewis took charge of Peter Jones. Spedan Lewis set up a staff council in 1919, and in 1929 signed a deed that handed the family's shares to trustees so profits went to employees, according to Wikipedia. The Partnership says it bought Waitrose in 1937, and that in 1929 it created a free medical service for Partners, 19 years before the NHS. Waitrose itself began in 1904 as a small grocer called Waite, Rose and Taylor in Acton, west London.
Partners take part in decisions through elected councils, committees and forums. The Partnership Council has 58 directly elected Partners and can hold the Chairman to account, according to Wikipedia, and Partners share an annual bonus set as the same percentage of pay for everyone. The company describes a supportive, inclusive environment. These are its own claims.
The company's jobs pages show two head office sites: John Lewis in Pimlico, London, and Waitrose at Bracknell, Berkshire, which also serves as a regional distribution centre. Teams include customer care and the contact centre, financial services, property, buying, merchandising and design, marketing, ethics and sustainability, finance, procurement, security, people, legal and change management. Popular roles listed are buying assistants, merchandising, software engineers and buyers, and head office Partners can volunteer on charitable projects through the Golden Jubilee Trust.
Website: www.jlpjobs.com
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