The Partner Survey
When our founder, John Spedan Lewis, set up the Partnership, he made it both commercial and democratic. Our structure gives our management the freedom to be entrepreneurial and competitive in the way they run the company, while giving Partners the rights and responsibilities of ownership through active involvement in the business.
Mary Hannan, Waitrose Rickmansworth
All 70,000 Partners have a say in how the Partnership is run, as well as an equal percentage share in the profits. Giving our Partners a voice is central to the principles of co-ownership, and we engage their views and opinions in a number of ways, including the annual Partner Survey, first started in 2003.
Methodology 2010 Results Acting on the results
Methodology
The Partner Survey goes to all Partners and is anonymous. Each shop receives separate results so we can identify Partners' concerns more easily and act on them, without compromising their anonymity.
The Survey has questions on a number of subjects including job satisfaction, pay, career development, management, their branch, the democratic bodies and the Partnership as a business. Partners' replies are processed by an external company: no-one in the Partnership sees individual responses.
For each question Partners are asked to mark the answer box that best matches what they think about the statement, ranging form 'strongly agree' to 'strongly disagree'. Each answer has an associated score. If, for example, for any particular question everyone strongly agreed with the statement, the score would be 30; if they all disagreed strongly, the score would be -30; and if half agreed and half disagreed, the score would be 0.
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2010 results
In 2010, the Partner survey changed, and for the first time measured how well the Partnership is delivering on the Partner experience, which is laid out in our Partner Strategy. Over 63,000 Partners (89 per cent) shared their views on a range of issues, from pay and working hours to personal development and job satisfaction. The 28 questions (21 of which were new or amended this year) were divided into three groups, each one reflecting elements of the three commitments which make up the Partner Strategy. The range of possible survey scores ran from -30 (if everyone strongly disagreed) to +30 if everyone strongly agreed. The average scores for the three commitments were:
- Take responsibility for our business success: 9
- Build relationships powered by our principles: 12
- Create real influence over our working lives: 13.
Across the Partnership, 83 per cent of Partners agreed or strongly agreed that they would recommend the Partnership, a figure that put us in the top 25 per cent of the other UK companies.
View historic Partner Survey data.
Acting on the results
The scores are just a snapshot - the value comes from the questions and discussions these results prompt and the action that follows. Following the results from the Partner Survey, shops work to tackle those issues where they scored lowest. John Lewis and Waitrose Management Boards work on those issues that need to be tackled across each division.
Since the survey began, as a result of Partners' feedback, the Partnership has reviewed its democratic arrangements and commissioned an equal pay audit.
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