John Lewis chair Dame Sharon White it won a vote of confidence on its future leadership but lost a second ballot cast by the retailer’s partnership board on last year’s performance.
The employee-owned mutual did not disclose how many votes were cast for or against White’s turnaround plan for the chain loved by central England. Voting took place Wednesday at the Odney Club, a retreat near Maidenhead, Berkshire, owned by the retailer.
Chris Earnshaw, Chair of the Partnership Board, said: “The Board has voted in support of the Chair to advance the Partnership in relation to its purpose, principles and rules.
“The board did not support last year’s performance, in which we posted a full-year loss and no partner bonuses.”
While the results aren’t binding, they come at a difficult time for White. You faced criticism from some employees after the group, which owns department store chain of the same name and food company Waitrose, posted a £234m loss for the year to January and canceled his valuable staff bonus for the second time in three years, also warning of job cuts.
John Lewis’ new chief executive, Nish Kankiwala, warned last month that the group was “fundamentally not making sufficient profits”.
The advisers, a democratically elected body of more than 60 employees established to account for the presidency, meet twice a year to review the company’s performance and cast a vote of confidence in its leadership.
White told advisers at Wednesday’s meeting that there was “absolutely no question of demutualization” after March news reports that the management team was considering increasing outside investment in exchange for a minority stake. in the activity.
However, he added that “if at any point the partnership is unable to fund our [turnround] plan within our means” the council may consider external funds.
THE voting process was overhauled this year include two votes: whether staff are confident in the progress of the partnership under the leadership of the President over the last year and whether they support the President to advance the partnership under his leadership. The questions were answered on a scale of “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree”.
During the meeting, White quoted British writer Vivien Greene, referring to the retailer’s recent woes: “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning to dance in the rain.”
The group declined to comment on the votes.
—————————————————-
Source link