John Lewis axes a third of bosses
75 head office managers are to leave
JOHN Lewis is axing a third of its senior management as part of a major overhaul to save £100m.
The employee-owned retailer yesterday confirmed 75 of 225 head office bosses would get the chop.
The shake-up is part of plans to merge the management for John Lewis department stores and sister supermarket business Waitrose.
The move, the biggest change since the Partnership was created in 1929 and Waitrose was added in 1937, aims to save around £100million over time.
Rob Collins, managing director of the Waitrose business, will leave at the end of January after a 26-year career.
Paula Nickolds, currently managing director of John Lewis & Partners, will become executive director looking after brands, customer service and future innovations. Sir Charlie Mayfield, who is due to step down as Partnership chairman, said: “Although there will be little or no disruption to our shops or websites in the near term, there will be considerable change in many other areas of the partnership as we bring the two businesses much closer together.
“These are necessary and these changes will be difficult for some of our partners and we will implement as carefully and sensitively as we can.”
Ofcom chief executive Sharon White replaces Sir Charlie next year.
John Lewis recently crashed to its first-ever half-year loss, tumbling £25.9million into the red for the six months to July 27. The group has already cut its staff bonus to 3 per cent annual salary, the lowest percentage since 1953. It was giving its workers 15 per cent a decade ago.