Staff bonuses rise as John Lewis softens expectations

Sunday 08 March 2026 13.14
| Updated:

Sunday 08 March 2026 13.15

Many of John Lewis’s more than 70,000 employees are hoping for good news next week, as the retail giant will announce whether it will reinstate the staff bonuses they sorely missed after years of hiatus.

Bonuses given to staff have long been an important part of the John Lewis brand, as symbolic as the motto “never deliberately undersell” – which has also been removed, before being re-adopted in 2024.

The retail company first canceled the bonuses in 2020, when Covid-19 lockdowns impacted the company’s profits, marking the first time the commitment had been suspended since 1953.

John Lewis reinstated bonuses in 2022 but has not paid them out since then, meaning staff have not received their usual annual allowance in four of the last five years.

The company will confirm whether it will scrap bonuses again this year when it announces its financial results on Thursday, and the conflicting signals sent by its chiefs mean the retailer’s staff should not get their hopes up.

Jason Tarry, Tesco’s former UK boss, was given a warm welcome when he joined John Lewis as its chief executive in 2024, and analysts predict the new appointment will overhaul the retailer’s “social club” culture.

The leadership of former civil servant Sharon White, whom Tarry replaced, has been mired by shop closures, layoffs and the scrapping of the motto “never deliberately undersell” in a short time.

Tarry has appeased John Lewis and wants to further win over staff by reinstating bonuses with a two per cent payout, The Times reported.

“You have to get your partners on board and get them excited because people have been through tough times in the business. Bonuses have always been a mark of difference for John Lewis,” said one former senior employee.

But other signals are less promising. Executives warned staff that next week’s financial results would reflect a “weak” retail market in an internal memo, according to The Telegraph.

‘Things won’t get any easier’

In stark contrast to the positive messaging surrounding Tarry’s leadership elsewhere, staff who saw the memo claimed the chief executive said “things won’t get any easier in the future”.

John Lewis previously said it needed to take a profit of £200m before returning to bonuses, but analysts had predicted profits would be closer to £140m.

JLP’s losses tripled in September, as losses before tax and exceptional items increased to £88m from £30m a year earlier.

The company’s performance warning comes at a difficult time for the retail sector, as company bosses warned they were hit by rising labor costs and business rates reforms last year.

Retailers say the Labor government’s workers’ rights reforms, if not implemented carefully, could result in soaring recruitment costs forcing bosses to cut hours and slash job numbers.

Last month, John Lewis pulled the plug on its short-term rental housing venture, blaming economic conditions that it said had worsened significantly since the company started the project in 2020.

The company said this was a tactical move to allow a stronger focus on its retail offering, as it invested £800m to improve the in-store experience, which recently saw Topshop return to business.

“The strategy is well underway and involves modernizing our stores, enhancing our digital platforms and enhancing our supply chain to deliver the best quality, service and value to our customers,” a spokesperson said when the move was announced.

The John Lewis Partnership was contacted for comment.