Partners at John Lewis Celebrate Return of John Lewis Staff Bonus as Profits Rise
One of the John Lewis Partnership’s 69, 000 partners saw a payment land in their pay packet this year when the group restored the john lewis staff bonus. The small sum — set at 2% of salary and described as about an extra week’s pay — follows an increase in underlying profits that the partnership says has allowed it to resume the annual award after years without one.
69, 000 partners at John Lewis Partnership share a £35m payout
The partnership’s 69, 000 employees, known internally as partners, will share £35m, the equivalent of a 2% award on salary. For some partners the payment amounts to roughly one extra week of pay in the year the partnership chose to distribute funds that it had withheld in previous years.
The bonus had been absent in four of the five years before this return, a gap that followed heavy disruption during the Covid pandemic and a period in which the business closed stores and cut jobs. The company opted not to give a bonus in the most recent year despite a rise in reported profits then, conserving cash while it pursued other investments.
John Lewis Staff Bonus returns after underlying profits rise to £134m
Underlying trading profits rose 6% to £134m while partnership sales increased 5% to £13. 4bn. That improvement in the underlying business is the reason the john lewis staff bonus could be paid this year, even as the group reported a loss before tax after one-off charges.
The overall loss before tax stood at £21m after the business recorded one-off and exceptional charges, including write-downs of legacy technology and other items. The company also highlighted additional costs that hit profits, naming increased national insurance contributions and new packaging levies as specific pressures on the year’s results.
Waitrose gains and Jason Tarry’s plan shape how funds are spent
Within the partnership, Waitrose led growth with sales up 7% to £8. 5bn and an operating profit that rose noticeably in the past year. The department store side of the business also increased sales by 3% to £4. 9bn, with underlying profit rising more sharply in that division.
The partnership has been reshaping itself: a multiyear plan involved closing under-performing outlets, including a number of department stores and dozens of supermarket sites, and cutting thousands of head office roles. At the same time the company is investing in stores, with a multi-hundred-million-pound programme of refurbishments and upgrades across John Lewis and Waitrose shops.
Chair Jason Tarry framed the payment as part of a longer-term strategy. He said the partnership had grown customer numbers and delivered record satisfaction while continuing to invest in the business. The firm also said it remained cautious in its trading outlook for the coming year but would pursue further investments and efficiency gains.
For partners, the immediate human effect is modest in cash but meaningful in symbol. The restoration of the payment breaks a run of largely absent bonuses and signals a willingness to share some of the improved underlying returns with staff while the partnership continues work to repair its balance sheet and customer offer.
One partner’s small extra payment ties back into commitments already announced: the company intends to keep investing in its retail brands, expand services and seek ways to run operations more efficiently. More than 20 Waitrose stores and a handful of John Lewis shops have already been refurbished as part of the ongoing programme, and an £800m investment plan in stores was under way.
Back where this story began, one of the partnership’s 69, 000 partners received the restored payment this pay period. The next confirmed step the company has set out is to continue investing in its brands and to seek operating efficiencies this year, with those investments being delivered through the refurbishments and store upgrades already underway.
