John Lewis Partnership workers are expected to find out this week whether they will receive their first annual bonus payment in four years.
The retail group, which runs department store chain John Lewis and supermarket business Waitrose, will also reveal how it has been progressing its transformation strategy in an update on Thursday 12 March.
It will report its results for the year to January, which will include informing staff of its plans for any potential bonuses.
It is not yet clear whether the employee-owned company will pay an annual bonus to its staff, whom the retail group calls partners. The payment of a bonus is decided by the company’s board of directors.
JLP has not paid an annual bonus to workers since January 2022 amid a major company turnaround strategy.
Following the coronavirus pandemic, the group closed several John Lewis department stores and cut jobs at headquarters in a bid to shore up its finances.
The company again chose not to distribute bonuses last year, despite tripling its annual profits. Underlying profits recovered to £126m in the year to January last year, up from £42m the year before.
Last summer the company indicated in an internal update that staff could receive a bonus if they exceeded the £200m profit target. Several frustrated workers had signed an open letter asking employers to recover the bonus after it was not paid for the third year in a row.
At its peak during the 1980s, the retailer paid an annual bonus of up to 24% of employees’ salaries.
Last month, JLP said John Lewis and Waitrose partners would receive a 6.9% pay rise to combat inflation as part of a £108 million investment in its workforce.
On Thursday, the company will also shed more light on the progress of its major transformation under Jason Tarry. Its strategy under the former Tesco UK boss has involved injecting more investment into stores, as JLP renewed its focus on its core retail business.
The company is spending £800m on its stores as part of a long-term investment. It has refurbished 23 Waitrose stores over the past year, as well as five John Lewis stores. It also launched the Topshop brand across its 32 department stores last month as part of the investment in its fashion offering.
Last month, Tarry also canceled the association’s plans to build about 10,000 rental properties to focus more on retail.
It abandoned build-to-rent ambitions launched in 2020 under its previous chair, Dame Sharon White, blaming higher costs and caution in the property market.
