Waitrose owner John Lewis Partnership is set to invest a record £116 million in boosting staff pay, increasing wages by an average of 10%.
According to Retail Week, the partnership – which owns the upmarket grocer and the John Lewis department stores – is expected to confirm the new pay rates when it files its full-year results next week.
As of April, the minimum pay is expected to rise to £11.55 per hour nationally and to £12.89 in London.
It follows similar moves from M&S, which is investing a record £89m in UK retail pay to at least £12 per hour, and Tesco, which is investing more than £300m in boosting its hourly colleague pay to a minimum of £12.02 per hour.
The updated pay rates come amid the businesses turnaround programme, which has undergone several changes in recent months.
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In January, the John Lewis Partnership warned staff they could receive smaller pay rises to give the business more financial flexibility during the turnaround.
The employee-owned retailer also told partners that it was halving its current two-week redundancy pay per year of service policy as it was “higher than typical market practice and comes at a very high cost”.
In the same month, it was reported that the retail giant looked to slash more than 10% of its 76,000 workforce over the next five years to cut cost base by £900m.
However, John Lewis Partnership chair Dame Sharon White has claimed the business will “more than break-even” this year, following a loss of £234m last year.
In a video message to staff, White said it is on track to “build back to sustainable profit for the business.”
5 Comments. Leave new
We’ve heard it all before
11p above the minimum wage… when the other supermarkets are offering £12 an hour is a joke.
The reason is Waitrose is giving 10% pay rise is because it pays its staff lower than any other supermarket.
Most shop floor workers on earn around £10.50 an hour.
When you take into account the new minimum wage being legally applied here, Waitrose are only being given 1% pay rise in real terms by this company, which is shameful.
It has way too many Partners in the wrong jobs who are actually over paid compred to their competition. Eg. Three of them stood in aisles in Barbican this week is the problem to resolve nationwide…
Staff moral has probably never been so low. It’s hardly a partnership. It’s warehouse staff are treated like robots and have been underpaid for years. The bonus used to be the only thing that made being paid a pathetic hourly rate worth putting up with. Shane on you JLP look after your staff!