Farewell to John Lewis

So after working 7 months for middle England’s favourite department store, John Lewis, I finally finished my last shift last week. Whilst not a particularly extensive stint, I am still rather sad about leaving this prestigious company

The John Lewis partnership is run as a co-operative – that is to say that all employees own a portion of the company and are effectively partners. And, as we are all partners, we all get a share of the profits at the end of the tax year which is calculated as a percentage of our salaries. This is in contrast to how most other private companies are run where the majority of the profit is reinvested into the business and the people at the top.

As partners, all employees have the right to have a say in how the business is run. This can be done by raising issues to your manager or attending branch or regional meetings.

The John Lewis partnership also regularly uses its profits to fund activities and events for its staff such as football tournaments or tickets to concerts.

Of course there are disadvantages to running a business like this. John Lewis cannot grow anywhere near as exponentially as say, Tescos, as their profits are nowhere near as vast and their charter forbids them from floating the company on the stock market to gain additional funds.

However, I have a high regard of the way the business is run. In a present society where colossal corporations dominate the marketplace; where shareholders dictate the running of businesses; where directors and bankers sometimes treat themselves to preposterous bonuses – John Lewis is one of the few companies that makes an extra effort to care about their employees.

The managing director, Andy Street, can only earn 50 times more than the lowest paid partner as is dictated in the company charter – which was written by the founder John Spedan Lewis. This means he has an annual salary of around 500,000 pounds. Whilst still a large amount compared to us mere mortals, it is nothing when you look at the managing directors of other prominent organizations who take home with them several millions.

John Lewis is indeed a ‘third way’ of running a business that works, and whilst I acknowledge that modern competition and globalization has necessitated a ruthless pursuit of profits in a bid to expand or stay alive, I do believe much can be learnt from this socialist influenced company.