There is no easy way to announce a big pay rise at the top while the number of people is falling at the bottom of the store, and the latest annual report by the John Lewis Partnership highlights that tension.
Jason Tarry (pictured)who took over as chairman of the employee-owned retailer in September 2024, saw his basic salary rise from £990,000 to £1.2m in the year to January, a rise of just over a fifth. Factor in a modest annual bonus worth 2 per cent of salary, plus other benefits, and his total package is close to £1.26m.
The partnership allowed for expansion by revealing that Tarry is now combining the duties of chairman and chief executive, following the departure of Nish Kankiwala, whose position was vacated. Her predecessor Sharon White earned the same base salary of £990,000 during her tenure and took home a total of £1.12m in her last two full years, when there was no bonus at all.
For context, Tarry’s salary remains below the £1.53m peak achieved by former chairman Charlie Mayfield in 2015, and well short of the £2m the former Co-op Group boss was paid last year. The reduction in the number of senior roles also meant the total bill for key executives, including directors, was kept at £8m.
However, staff numbers will attract scrutiny. The partnership now employs 65,700 people, down from 69,000 last year, with Waitrose shedding around 1,800 positions and John Lewis shedding around 1,500. The spokesperson said that the majority of departures reflect a natural decline, with less than 0.5 percent of partners leaving due to redundancy.
The trajectory, however, tells a more important story. The group had 76,400 employees on its books in 2023, and has now cut around 10,700 roles over three years – broadly in line with previous reports that it was considering axing up to 11,000 positions by 2029. He declined to say whether any other reductions were in the cards.
There are some bright notes in the report. The partnership paid an annual bonus to all staff in March for the first time in four years, after profits rose 6 per cent. Every employee, including the chairman, received the equivalent of 2 percent of their salary.
Tarry’s first 18 months were defined by a return to retail basics: better stores, improved product availability and higher wages for top employees. The group is investing £800m across its property and has refurbished 23 Waitrose branches and five John Lewis stores in the past year. Supermarkets have lined up for the revival of high-end Topshop and seen a drop in footfall due to the return of their famous “no underselling” promise.
Although 16 John Lewis department stores have closed in recent years, the chain remains Britain’s biggest, thanks to the collapse of former rivals Debenhams and Beales and the massive downsizing of House of Fraser.
All was not well under Tarry, however. The partnership faced criticism after letting go of an autistic man who volunteered as an unpaid shelf stacker at a branch of Waitrose for years. Recently, the firing of a 17-year-old employee who intervened to stop a thief stealing Lindt’s golden bunny Easter eggs attracted a lot of attention, as well as an immediate request from a rival retailer in Iceland.
In a business built on the principle that every employee is a partner, increasing CEO pay with a shrinking workforce will remain one of the most obvious challenges for Tarry’s leadership. The numbers may add up on paper, but optics need to be treated with care from a vendor whose name is inseparable from the people who use them.
