John Lewis cuts staff bonus for the fifth year in a row as it reports a fall in profits
BONUSES for 84,000 John Lewis and Waitrose staff have been cut for the fifth year in a row.
Workers will get a 5 per cent bonus, down from 6 per cent last year - and the lowest since 1954 when it was 4 per cent.
Staff will share a pot of £74million, down from £89.4million the precious years.
The payouts are still generous compared to other firms as the John Lewis group sees its staff as partners, rather than workers.
Every member gets the same percentage, from shelf fillers to executives.
Bonuses in the 1970s and 1980s were as high as 24 per cent and as recently as 2013 it was 17 per cent.
It comes as the retailer posted a 77 per cent plunge in pre-tax profits to £103.9 million for the year to January 27.
Company chairman Sir Charlie Mayfield said it had been a "challenging year".
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He added: "We said in January 2017 that we were preparing for tougher trading conditions with weakness in Sterling feeding through into cost prices, putting pressure on margin, and much higher exceptional costs as a result of an acceleration of planned changes.
"This was why we chose to reduce the proportion of profits paid as Partnership Bonus last year so as to absorb these impacts while continuing to invest in the future and in strengthening our balance sheet.
"We did both and I am pleased to say that despite lower profits, strong cash flow has enabled us to reduce our total net debts.";
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