John Lewis Partnership Handbook 2

With a core of popular and longstanding benefits, The John Lewis Partnership has a democratic structure that allows staff to have their say, giving management some frank and honest views. Red Alert 2 Money Trainer Free Download more. Staff are treated as partners, says Debbie Lovewell Article in full Imagine employees having a hotline straight to the top of your organisation that let them express exactly what they wanted, when they wanted to, without any fear of repercussions. I wonder how many employers would really like to hear just what staff think of them?

May 23, 2016. Sir Charlie Mayfield, partnership chairman, was behind the business review Rex Features. Windows Xp Sp2 Lite Download Iso. John Lewis treats its staff so well that even when it has to cut bonuses, like it did this year for the third year running, employees turn out to celebrate. Now it seems that tighter purse strings are becoming a regular thing.

This kind of practice, however, is exactly what the John Lewis Partnership encourages. The organisation’s democratic structure includes a plethora of employee councils and committees where staff can have their say anonymously. Hence, all employees are known as partners and are certainly treated as such when it comes to sharing out the firm’s annual profits. Adam Brooke, manager, benefits projects, explains that the approach has some real advantages. 'What it does give us is the opportunity to get honest feedback and allow partners a real say in how the business runs. We’ve got a number of different committees and councils.

There are groups of non-management partners, and whatever feedback comes from it is a direct channel to the chairman. This was one of the founder’s favourite committees. It’s anonymous so they can raise whatever they want, the minutes are produced so everyone knows what’s been raised within it, but it’s not attributed to anyone so people can freely speak their mind.

We really get an idea of what non-management partners are asking for in the business and have concerns about. And that’s why we target them because we want honest views.' It was such feedback that sparked the idea to redesign the Partnership’s voluntary benefits package. The organisation previously offered the scheme on a more ad hoc basis, often adding perks when given the opportunity to do so.

Brooke explains that this was largely due to each of the firm’s three benefits managers introducing and promoting benefits individually. 'We came to the conclusion, having listened to our partners, that we’d become quite fragmented in our approach to our voluntary benefits, especially leisure. And I think that really extends from a number of benefits managers being in the Partnership, [and them] all coming up with very good ideas but then promoting them in different ways. And the message was actually getting lost by our partners so the appreciation of what we were offering wasn’t there.' But this ad hoc approach didn’t extend to the whole of the package. While some options are brand new, others are steeped in tradition.