John Lewis to axe 200 contractors in an effort to cut costs

The John Lewis Partnership will be making approximately 200 contractors redundant from its customer service provider, Foundever, The Telegraph has reported. 

Foundever, which has been the retailer’s partner for the past 17 years, has handled the majority of its customer service with a team of 1,000 people. 

The news comes after the partnership revealed new turnaround plans to identify where it can cut costs. John Lewis expects to cut as many as 11,000 roles across its workforce over the next five years, having recently also announced lowering redundancy pay. 

According to John Lewis, following the changes, the overall customer service team would “return to the same size” as it was before Christmas.

JLP also employs its own in-house customer service staff, and according to the retailer, it has tried to find jobs for the staff impacted but that some will face redundancies.  

In an internal memo seen by The Telegraph, JLP said: “Against all of our competing priorities for investment, it’s fair to say that the high cost of redundancy pay has been one of the things that have prevented us from moving as quickly as we’ve wanted to transform ourselves for the future, and has restricted our ability to invest more in pay.”

A spokesman for John Lewis said: “Customer service is incredibly important to us and our team is made up of both in-house partners and support from third parties.

“We’re constantly reviewing our model to make sure we continue to meet our customers’ needs. We’re working with Foundever to support their staff and offer alternative roles within our own business where we can.”

A spokesperson for Foundever added: “All affected employees have been informed and we are now entering a 45-day consultation period, throughout which our priority is to engage with them directly while ensuring that the exceptional level of service that John Lewis customers expect will not be impacted by these changes.”