Waitrose owner the John Lewis Partnership is expected to report a return to profit this week, despite warnings of job cuts and no staff bonus.
The business, which is due to unveil its full-year results on Thursday, is understood to be reporting a profit turnaround after thee years of consecutive losses, This is Money reported.
Earlier this year, chair Dame Sharon White claimed the business would “more than break-even” this year and “build back to sustainable profit”, following a loss of £234m last year.
However, staff are not expected to receive a bonus for the third time in four years and in January, it was reported that the retail giant is looking to slash more than 10% of its 76,000 workforce over the next five years as it looks to cut cost base by £900m.
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Although the redundancies are expected to hit Waitrose’s sister John Lewis more heavily, the group’s head office staff are thought to be the most vulnerable.
Last month, the partnership also slashed the number of workers on its customer service team, leaving hundreds of service employees facing redundancy.
The current team of over 1,000 workers will be reduced to approximately 200 employees, and while the retailer said that it will try and find jobs for staff, redundancy will be inevitable for others.
However, in contrast to the potential job cuts, the retailer is investing a record £116m in boosting staff pay, increasing wages by an average of 10%.
As of April, the minimum pay is expected to rise to £11.55 per hour nationally and to £12.89 in London.
