Dame Sharon White has suffered a rebellion from John Lewis staff who voted against the company's performance last year after it failed to pay them a bonus.
In what will come as a blow to the John Lewis chairman, staff who sit on the retailer's council said they did not have confidence in the progress of the partnership under Dame Sharon over the past year.
The John Lewis Partnership's council, which comprises 58 members elected by employees, also voted in favour of supporting the chairman's future strategy.
There are three other members of the council, who are elected board members and who do not have voting rights. John Lewis did not disclose the break-down of the votes in favour and against.
Chris Earnshaw, president of the council, said: “Every half year, the chairman attends our partnership council to give an update and discuss with councillors the progress of the partnership.
"This is central to how we exercise our democratic principles and ownership of the business.
“The council voted in support of the chairman to progress the partnership in relation to its purpose, principles and rules.
“The council did not support last year’s performance, in which we reported a full year loss and no partner bonus.”
Though the votes are not binding, the result will pile pressure on Dame Sharon to show signs of progress as she races to revive the partnership, which owns John Lewis department stores as well as Waitrose shops.
On Wednesday, she told staff at a biannual meeting at the John Lewis-owned Odney Club holiday retreat in Berkshire that life was about “learning to dance in the rain”, citing poet Vivien Green.
Dame Sharon said: “I love that quote. It says, in other words, it's not the tough moments themselves, it's how you respond to those tough moments that really counts. It's a real test of your mettle and the strength of your partnership.”
John Lewis has been battling inflation over the past year, which Dame Sharon has said “hit like a hurricane”.
The company has been racing to strip out an extra £600m in costs, after losses swelled to more than £230m in its latest financial year.
Falling further into the red prompted John Lewis to axe its partnership bonus for only the second time in its history last year.
Dame Sharon said at the company's results that John Lewis could also not “do as much as we would like on pay”.
Speaking before the vote, she said the pay situation was “unbelievably tough”.
“I wish we could have paid partners more this year but that would have come at the expense of jobs,” Dame Sharon added.
“As profits return, pay is the board's top priority, ahead of bonuses.”
Questions have also centred around the future of the partnership, as Dame Sharon considers bringing an outside investor into John Lewis. It is, at present, fully owned by its staff.
The proposed move has sparked concerns from senior industry figures including Mary Portas, who earlier this year said the retailer had “let go of the soul”.
“We’ve all felt the subtle, but powerful, erasure of what John Lewis is, a severing of what’s always set your business apart,” Ms Portas added.
Addressing the concerns on Wednesday, Dame Sharon said the partnership would “always be an employee owned business, no ifs, no buts”.
“There is absolutely no question of demutualisation,” she added.
The John Lewis chairman said the board could consider external investment.
“But if and only if that arrangement was completely aligned with the 1929 and the 1950 trust settlements and if there were any impact on the constitution, there would be a role for council in the normal way,” she said.
A spokesman for John Lewis said: “No one in our business was happy with last year's performance and the Council was able to share that view – that shows our democracy working. There's no rebellion and everyone is focused on pulling together to improve our business for customers.”
Clive Black, an analyst at Shore Capital, described the release of the results from the votes as a “self-inflicted wound”.
“It's like washing your dirty linen in public when most private companies wouldn't countenance such a display,” Mr Black added.
“I'm sure it will be a really disappointing day for Sharon and you've got to hope the team regroup and start facing the right direction together because if they keep going as they are, they are just going to self-implode.”
https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiamh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnRlbGVncmFwaC5jby51ay9idXNpbmVzcy8yMDIzLzA1LzEwL2pvaG4tbGV3aXMtc3RhZmYtdm90ZS1wYXJ0bmVyc2hpcC1jb25maWRlbmNlLXNoYXJvbi13aGl0ZS_SAQA?oc=5
2023-05-10 14:17:00Z
2012456146
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