[News] 'John Lewis staff bonus cut again'

[LlcoolJ]

I like JL.

My mum and my mum in law swear by the place but I was generally of "I'm sure I can get it somewhere else cheaper" mentality.

That changed when our dishwasher packed in (just out of warranty obviously) and when comparing prices / likelihood of life of appliance / worth of warranty being more than paper it's written on then getting one from JL was a no brainer. The five year guarantee cost hardly anything and unlike many manufacturer's extended warranties it does actually cover the item properly (e.g. Hotpoint warranty = utter bollocks).

We've generally gone there since, or at least looked there first, for major household purchases.

Also love Waitrose but I'm neither rich nor foolish enough to do a weekly shop there. It's for stuff you can't get elsewhere or treats.

 

[Bulldog]

SECOND headline on the BBC website.

Firstly, is this actually a news story worthy of being anywhere near the top of the website?

Secondly, ONLY a 5% bonus? Oh my heart bleeds! Bonus - just looking up in dictionary - oh, it's extra money on top of a salary.

Ah, bonus, yes I remember, it's that thing the bosses award themselves every year, just before telling the staff they can't afford to give them a pay rise, again.

 

[studio150]

SECOND headline on the BBC website.

Firstly, is this actually a news story worthy of being anywhere near the top of the website?

Secondly, ONLY a 5% bonus? Oh my heart bleeds! Bonus - just looking up in dictionary - oh, it's extra money on top of a salary.

It is very much a news story for people who are actually interested in news. I'm sure you will find what you are looking for in the Mirror.

If it has escaped you, the likes of Toys r us and Maplin have been news stories in recent weeks due to the trading difficulties on the High Street. Therefore very much like M&S, John Lewis are seen as a blue chip company where there yearly performance has been news for many years, as it is seen a temperature check on overall performance for High Street retailers.

The fact that the company is not a share/dividend one but one where the staff are rewarded depending on performance, it clearly leads itself to a human angle story also.

The fact that you obviously work in a job where the opportunity to earn a bonus or take part in share save schemes is not present does not make the John Lewis story un-newsworthy

I would have thought the easiest thing for you to do, would have been to skip the story, and move onto a story about soap actors which I assume would be more to your liking.

 

[DavidRyder]

It is very much a news story for people who are actually interested in news. I'm sure you will find what you are looking for in the Mirror.

If it has escaped you, the likes of Toys r us and Maplin have been news stories in recent weeks due to the trading difficulties on the High Street. Therefore very much like M&S, John Lewis are seen as a blue chip company where there yearly performance has been news for many years, as it is seen a temperature check on overall performance for High Street retailers.

The fact that the company is not a share/dividend one but one where the staff are rewarded depending on performance, it clearly leads itself to a human angle story also.

The fact that you obviously work in a job where the opportunity to earn a bonus or take part in share save schemes is not present does not make the John Lewis story un-newsworthy

I would have thought the easiest thing for you to do, would have been to skip the story, and move onto a story about soap actors which I assume would be more to your liking.

Er, ok.

 

[Nigella's Cream Pie]

Does not work these days. You go and get yourself qualifications and work hard you get slapped with fees and unplayable debts.

Like Man C this season?

 

[Half Time Pies]

I used to work as a contractor for John Lewis and the bonus is a massive motivator for the staff. When I was working for them it was 15%-17% only a few years ago so I can imagine that dropping to 5% is a massive deal.

Its a bonus so the staff shouldn't of course count on it but its human nature to do so.

In terms of if it should make the news, well its a massive company thats important for the British economy and they have 85,000 staff working for them so the fact that they have seen profits drop by 77% is pretty big news.

 

[timco]

Serves them right for getting stingy with the free coffee and cake (or just coffee in Waitrose) no reason to just pop in now have to be going past having said that been in two Waitrose's today.

 

[DumLum]

Serves them right for getting stingy with the free coffee and cake (or just coffee in Waitrose) no reason to just pop in now have to be going past having said that been in two Waitrose's today.

It's still free coffee if you make another purchase.

 

[The Andy Naylor Fan Club]

After 25 years on BT i received 4 glasses slid down a table in a small meeting room . I am not a number !

 

[TWOCHOICEStom]

Debenham's has been hit pretty hard too. Layoffs in middle management country-wide.

 

[Half Time Pies]

Serves them right for getting stingy with the free coffee and cake (or just coffee in Waitrose) no reason to just pop in now have to be going past having said that been in two Waitrose's today.

The coffee offer is quite interesting actually as the company profits had started to fall just before I stopped working for them and the talk amongst a lot of the management staff that I worked with was that this was one of the main things impacting on profitability. There is no doubt that it brought more foot-fall in to the shops however a lot of people were just coming in for their coffee and had no intention of making a purchase. The other factor was costs, we managed the maintenance contracts including the coffee machines and they needed to purchase extra machines for the stores, redesign stores to accommodate them, take out comprehensive maintenance contracts on them with a quick response (as customers would be up in arms if the machines were out of action), employ extra staff to keep them stocked with cups and coffee and increase the cleaning contracts as people would be walking around the stores sloshing coffee everywhere. On top of this there was the cost of the coffee/ milk and cups etc and Waitrose had become the 2nd biggest vendor of coffee in the country when the offer was in fall swing.

 

[Hampster Gull]

McDonnellwill sort this sort of capitalism out

 

[timco]

It's still free coffee if you make another purchase.

But what if I pop in to see what they have can't have a free cup then if they don't have anything I want to buy it used to be an incentive to just pop in and see don't have this anymore.

It was more the free coffee and cake at JL though which meant my wife went into JL I had to plan half a day for the exercise and she would inevitably come out having bought something.

No JL coffee and cake vouchers this time will save me a fortune.

 

[timco]

Yes it always struck me as a very strange offer and one the local coffee shops hate immensely great offer though if the Waitrose has a cafe.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

As a bonus, There's also some proper fit women in my local Waitrose.

They always seem to have one or two pretty and posh looking A level students on the tills when I used to shop there. I never got that at Asda.

 

[Iggle Piggle]

They always seem to have one or two pretty and posh looking A level students on the tills when I used to shop there. I never got that at Asda.

I used to get judged by a MILF on the tills who'd comment on my wine selection, raise an eyebrow at my lack of veg or stare at the kids who'd be trying to kill each other. On balance, preferable to the mumsy types at ASDA who were nowhere near so judgemental but talked to me as if I was 2.

 

[DavidinSouthampton]

The coffee offer is quite interesting actually as the company profits had started to fall just before I stopped working for them and the talk amongst a lot of the management staff that I worked with was that this was one of the main things impacting on profitability. There is no doubt that it brought more foot-fall in to the shops however a lot of people were just coming in for their coffee and had no intention of making a purchase. The other factor was costs, we managed the maintenance contracts including the coffee machines and they needed to purchase extra machines for the stores, redesign stores to accommodate them, take out comprehensive maintenance contracts on them with a quick response (as customers would be up in arms if the machines were out of action), employ extra staff to keep them stocked with cups and coffee and increase the cleaning contracts as people would be walking around the stores sloshing coffee everywhere. On top of this there was the cost of the coffee/ milk and cups etc and Waitrose had become the 2nd biggest vendor of coffee in the country when the offer was in fall swing.

In the store I work at part-time they worked out that one customer had 7 different My Waitrose cards with slight variations of his name. 6 of them were then cancelled. Plenty of people, though, will come in and buy a doughnut and then get the free coffee.

 

[ofco8]

Fair enough. I wasn’t criticising them, I genuinely have no real idea of what they even sell, let alone how good they are.

I might trust this thread and pop in that one at Chichester the next time I pass on the A27 to see what the fuss is all about!

Chichester and Horsham are only "Home Stores", i.e. furniture and electricals basically. No clothes and other department store products.
JL is basically the only department store we use and was gutted when they cancelled the Brighton store.
Underlying this the old CEO was dynamic and forward looking. The current one appears to be only considering the today.

 

[Perfidious Albion]

Waitrose free coffee:
"however a lot of people were just coming in for their coffee and had no intention of making a purchase."

Count me in on that ! However, at Hailsham one can often buy a little cake for 50 - 60p and have coffee an cake for that, which is pretty good .