John Lewis shakes up store hours in restructure aimed at boosting customer service

John Lewis is to cut 153 roles and invest in more in-store tech, as part of a major shake-up of store working hours aimed at improving service levels and customer experience.

The proposed changes mirror a similar moved rolled out across Waitrose over the past year, as part of its Simpler Shops programme. The changes saw a redistribution of shift patterns, for example ending night shifts in some stores in favour of having more staff during the day, as well as investments in in-store headsets and improvements to the way stock is handled and distributed in stores.

The changes have added 17,400 extra partner hours on Saturdays and Sundays alone, Waitrose said, and led to significant improvements in levels of customer satisfaction as a result.

As part of its own programme, John Lewis will make a “multimillion-pound” investment into “simplifying processes” and increasing the amount of face-to-face time partners have with customers in its department stores.

On the people side it will “realign” the hours partners spend in stores, aiming to have more staff working in stores at the busiest times. At the same time, it will also change partner roles by merging front and back-of-house roles, which are currently separate, into a single more flexible position that works across both. The changes would free up more partners to serve on the shop floor during busy times.

John Lewis expects headcount to reduce by 1% overall as a result of the changes. These will initially come through “natural attrition” as well as a voluntary redundancy process, John Lewis said. 

The staffing changes will come alongside a broader investment in technology, primarily aimed at boosting efficiency in stores. John Lewis has invested £5m into 6,000 new digital headsets which will improve communication between partners on the shop floor.

Read more: John Lewis Partnership sheds 3,800 jobs in bid to slash costs

A further £1m will be invested in the rollout of portable label printers, which will enable staff to replace missing shelf labels.

New “simpler” stocking processes will help to ensure the right goods are on shelves more quickly and improve availaibility, JLP said. It’s also investing in training, through the rollout of its Signature Services training to all partners. The programme has recently received accreditation from the Institute of Customer Service. 

“We’re seeking to make sure partners are in the right place at the right time to help customers,” said a John Lewis spokesman.

“We’re also removing unnecessary tasks and introducing new technology to make their roles easier.

“We carried out similar changes in Waitrose earlier this year, with customer and partner feedback increasing significantly since. It’s since been ranked the number one supermarket for customer satisfaction.”

The changes are the latest across the John Lewis Partnership as part of a £1bn investment over the next three years, announced following its return to profit in March 2024.

JLP plans to reduce headcount by what could be 11,000 over the next five years as part of the changes.