John Lewis denies job cuts claims
John Lewis has denied claims it is planning to cut any more jobs, following recent reports of further redundancies.
News emerged this weekend that John Lewis was placing 7,000 shop floor staff under consultation as the company prepares to welcome Jason Tarry as its new chairman later this month.
However, John Lewis has since refuted these claims, branding the suggestion as "wholly inaccurate".
A John Lewis Partnership spokesperson told TheIndustry.fashion: "It is wholly inaccurate to suggest there are plans for further role reductions than the 153 previously announced last month. There are no current plans to reduce management roles at John Lewis.
The partnership will only cut 153 roles, representing approximately 1% of its workforce, as part of a restructuring to its partnership model after several years of poor performance.
"The announced changes are designed to make the running of our shops more flexible, create more fulfilling jobs for Partners and to offer even better customer service by having Partners in the right place, at the right time," the statement continued.
"As part of those plans we are seeking to minimise redundancies by not filling vacant roles and securing jobs for Partners elsewhere in the business."
It comes after John Lewis recently proposed a multimillion-pound investment to complete a technology overhaul in its stores.
The proposed changes are focused on helping improve its customer service, and making sure staff members "are in the right place, doing the right tasks at the right time". This includes investment in new digital headsets to allow staff to easily interact with one another across the store.