Our employees
At the John Lewis Partnership, all 69,000 employees are Partners, which means we are all owners of the business and share in its success. Our founder, John Spedan Lewis, had an ambitious vision of employee co-ownership with the happiness of Partners as the ultimate purpose, and the Partnership has always acted on the principle that there should be more to a job than just work and pay. Our policies and leisure benefits are designed to help Partners balance their work and home lives and therefore stay committed to long-term careers with the Partnership.
Raj Arulganesan, John Lewis food hall
Our Constitution states that: 'The Partnership aims to employ and retain as its members people of ability and integrity who are committed to working together and to supporting its Principles. Relationships are based on mutual respect and courtesy, with as much equality between its members as differences of responsibility permit. The Partnership aims to recognise their individual contribution and reward them fairly.'
Recognition for our founder's vision
The Partnership's employment practices, based on John Spedan Lewis' vision, were praised by other retailers in the 2005 Retail Reputation Survey conducted by Adgrafix Advertising. The Partnership came second in the online poll, with 35 per cent of the 1,500 retail professionals questioned highlighting our employment practices.
In the supermarket category, Waitrose came second as a supermarket that looked after its employees and that participants would consider working for. In the department store category, John Lewis received the most votes as the company most respondents would like to work for (30 per cent), that worked hard to look after its employees (26 per cent) and that was the most ethical company.