Our 78,000 Partners mean everything to us. After all, we’re all co-owners, so we share the responsibility of making the Partnership great. This is why we treat everyone as an individual and look to extend the same kind of care and support to our Partners that we give to our customers.
It’s why we’ve invested in creating a positive working environment, which covers so many aspects of our Partners’ working lives. From pensions and medical services to the very best learning and development, we like to think we’ve got everything covered.
People sits within each division of the John Lewis Partnership and, as with our customer service, we deliver our services in a variety of ways. Some are through our People Service Centre in Bracknell, some through our regional hubs and others at a local level – whether that’s out in our stores, in Head Office or at our Distribution facilities.
Opportunities include policy, reward and benefits, organisational development, people business partnering and recruitment, learning and development, talent and succession, occupational health, people administration and many more.
Some People roles also exist in our John Lewis and Waitrose branches.
To the outside world, it’s widely referred to as Learning and Development. Here at the John Lewis Partnership it’s known as Partner Development. The difference? Our Partners are at the heart of all we do; because as Partners, we share the responsibility of making our business successful. This starts with each individual doing their job to the best of their ability. This is why Partner Development is so important to us.
Partner Development sits within the divisions of John Lewis and Waitrose. We help our Partners own and drive their development, by delivering courses and online learning and designing all manner of supporting training manuals, guides and bespoke training interventions. We make sure that our services, learning tools and support is relevant and meaningful. And we aim to make Partner Development an everyday aspect of Partners’ lives so that every Partner – no matter where they are in the business – has equal access to the learning and development opportunities available.
We recruit Learning and Development Designers and Facilitators, so whether you’re keen to start a career or already have experience in this field, why not see if we’ve got the opportunity you’ve been looking for.
Our Partners matter to us. So it makes sense that their health matters a lot to us too. We’ve recently brought together our Occupational Health teams to create Partnership Health Services – a new, pan-Partnership approach.
By ensuring we take good care of our Partners, not only do we decrease the impact of absence, but we also ensure we’re protecting our future by looking after our greatest assets. After all, we’d be nowhere without them.
Our services include work-related health advice and guidance, fitness to work, physiotherapy, podiatry, business-travel health, health surveillance, medical assessments for drivers as well as mental health and well-being support.
Our team is made up of Health Advisors and Co-ordinators, Health Specialists (such as Occupational Health Physicians and Physiotherapists), Clinical Case Managers and Regional Health Managers. They are based out of our Health Hub in Bracknell and in the field. Health Advisors, Clinical Case Managers and Regional Health Managers are all fully-qualified health practitioners.
Our Partners are busy people. So when it comes to their careers and any administrative queries that they might have, our People Service Centre (PSC) is on-hand to help. The PSC supports the whole of the Partnership by providing administrative support for a whole range of People-related activity. This is mainly seeing that our Partners get paid accurately and promptly. Also whenever personal circumstances change (whether that’s due to maternity, paternity, or other parental needs, adoption, retirement, jury service, Territorial Army commitments etc.), they make sure everything’s up-to-date.
They also help investigate complex pay queries, administer the 5, 25, 40 and 50 year celebrations for all Partners, look after contractual hour’s amendments, record assignment changes and deal with references as well.
Isabella Brugognone
“Being an Administrator in the PSC is a fantastic opportunity to develop yourself and start your career. As an Administrator your tasks vary from sorting the incoming post and logging work to dealing with sensitive and confidential Right to Work documents for new partners.The role allows you to work closely with other departments such as Policy and Payroll, whilst also working closely with the People Advisers. Working within the PSC, there is a great sense of team spirit with support and guidance available to help you progress and learn.This a a fantastic opportunity for anyone who wishes to gain the knowledge and experience required for the HR and Retail Industry. With high work loads and tight deadlines, this role requires someone who is able to adapt to an ever changing environment whilst also delivering our service to high standards.There are many opportunities to grow and develop as the skills you learn are widely respected by employers. Being an Administrator has rewarded with me valuable knowledge and skills that have helped grow my confidence and allowed me to progress in my career.”
Heather See
“I enjoy the variety of processes as a People Service Adviser. Due to the business continuously changing, new processes and projects come into the PSC which keeps the job challenging and stimulating. The skills learned are transferable throughout the business, yet there are still ample opportunities to develop oneself within the role and department.It gives me a great sense of achievement being able to continually adapt and improve myself whilst ensuring that as a team we still provide an excellent service working in a shared service centre environment.”
If you’re detail-focused, organised and a good communicator, you could find that our People Service Centre is just right for you.
It’s essential we attract, recruit and retain the right Partners. After all, we fully understand that being a Partner and joining an organisation like ours isn’t for everyone. But for those who totally appreciate what we’re aiming to do and how we’re going about it, careers simply don’t get much more rewarding.
This is why we have a talented team of individuals that specifically work to ensure we have the right Partners to do the right jobs. It’s a brand new team that sits within Partnership Services – a service centre for the whole John Lewis Partnership – so there’s plenty of scope to help shape what our future looks like. And as we grow, so do the needs of the business which means it’s a really exciting time to join.
There are three teams within Resourcing:
Strategy, Planning, Development & Redeployment – responsible for developing new ways to attract candidates and new selection tools for the Partnership to use as well as supporting the redeployment needs of the business. Account Management – face out into the Partnership working with Business Partners and stakeholders to provide strategic market insight and support recruitment activity. Operations – are at the heart of recruitment delivery, supporting with the delivery of the end-to-end recruitment process for all roles across the Partnership.
Within the team there are Resourcing Administrators who provide the administration support for all vacancies, Resourcing Consultants who support hiring managers to deliver the best recruits across the business, Resourcing Managers who account manage defined business areas, and Resourcing Delivery Specialists who compile assessment materials for use by hiring managers. In addition, Resourcing Strategy Managers advise on the business’ approach to recruiting the best people to become Partners.
If you’ve a genuine interest in resourcing or have experience in this field, why not see if we’ve got the opportunity you’ve been looking for. Then you can help others do the same.
