Overview

• Beginning July 2025, commercial team staff must spend at least three days a week in the office, in stores, or meeting brands and suppliers.
• The requirement applies solely to John Lewis’s department store commercial roles, while Waitrose employees retain their existing hybrid arrangements.
• Management says the policy will bolster a collaborative culture as it integrates around 50 new hires focused on range development and store modernisation.
• Recent benefit cuts have included the scrapping of lifetime discount cards for retirees and the third consecutive year without a partnership bonus, triggering a petition backed by over 4,000 signatures.
• The directive forms part of a wider restructuring initiative launched by former chair Sharon White and carried forward by her successor, Jason Tarry, to restore profitability.