Case Study: John Lewis Partnership

As one of the longest-running and largest employee owned businesses, the John Lewis Partnership (JLP) – which encompasses John Lewis and Waitrose – has inspired policy makers, businesses, and academics for decades. The ‘John Lewis Partnership’ model has pretty much become shorthand for the many benefits of employee ownership.

The spirit of employee ownership continues to drive the business’ innovations and ongoing evolution, building on a fascinating story that’s entwined with British social and economic history.

For more than a century, JLP has been running what its founder John Spedan Lewis called an “experiment”. And this experiment concerned a business designed to be both commercially successful and socially progressive. To make this powerful but abstract idea a reality, it required the people who work within the business to own it, share in its success, and have a meaningful voice in decision-making. All fundamental tenets of employee ownership almost a hundred years later.

From the moment Spedan Lewis began transferring ownership to employees in the early twentieth century, JLP has evolved in response to changing markets, customer expectations and social norms. In more recent years, that evolution has accelerated further. Changes in retail and shifts in consumer shopping and spending habits alongside renewed expectations on what responsible business looks like have resulted in the Partnership actively evolving how it lives up to its founding principles.

Ownership, Democracy & Trust

John Spedan Lewis recognised early on that a business truly thrives when it honours the contributions of every individual. More than a century ago, he pioneered a model that ensures every employee has a meaningful stake in their collective success.

His vision was to create a business that combined business savvy and commercial agility with democratic participation and fairness. He formalised these radical ideas in a written constitution that set out the rights and responsibilities of Partners of an employee owned business – a precursor to modern employee charters used by many EO businesses in the 21st century.

Then came the transition itself with financial ownership transferred to trusts in two stages. In 1929, Spedan Lewis handed over his own shares to trustees. Although this move saw him give away financial ownership, he retained practical control of the business for another twenty-one years. In 1950, the second trust settlement handed the business to its Partners. 

This structure was underpinned by giving employees a voice, sharing responsibility, having a collective purpose, and a culture built on trust and care. All key aspects that define Great EO today. 

The Portfolio

More than ninety-five years later, JLP is a group of distinct but interconnected businesses, all united by common ownership and values. 

Waitrose is a leading British grocer famed for its high-quality, responsibly sourced food and drink, leading animal welfare and sustainability standards, and strong Partner-led service across more than 300 stores nationwide. 

Its commitment to quality and provenance is reinforced by the Leckford Estate in Hampshire, established in 1927, which produces crops, beef, and cider for Waitrose.

Originally founded in 1864 by the father of John Spedan Lewis, John Lewis operates thirty-six stores with an offering in home, fashion, beauty, and technology products, as well as more than sixty food and drink venues. John Lewis Partnership also includes John Lewis Money, an important enabler of its retail strategy, providing insurance, credit, and travel money services. 

Beyond the overarching ownership, these businesses sit in a wider framework based on a belief that how the business is run matters as much as what it sells.

Purpose in Practice

The beliefs underpinning both the commercial existence of JLP and its success have been tested by social and economic pressures. While the 2020 pandemic accelerated challenges faced by all retailers, JLP navigated this period by prioritising the long-term sustainability of the business. 

JLP’s long-standing guiding statement, dubbed ‘Principle One’, has always prioritised the “happiness of all its members”. While this remains a core pillar, the Partnership has broadened its focus to better align with the modern role of business in wider society.

Today’s generation of customers and Partners alike look for a clear commitment to broader societal values, including environmental stewardship and inclusivity. Recognising this, JLP saw an opportunity to sharpen its vision and evolve its mission, ensuring its sense of purpose is as clear and impactful today as it was at its founding.

Re articulating the ‘Why’

A dedicated period of nationwide engagement allowed for direct listening sessions with Partners, capturing a transparent view of the business – the successes as much as the challenges. This collective feedback helped form a portrait of a Partnership ready to embrace a more modern direction. It highlighted the opportunity to refine an identity that remains deeply true to its historic roots while ensuring its values are expressed in a way that resonates with the world today.

But rather than imposing a new purpose from the top, JLP chose to embody its founding values and co-create it. Around 20% of Partners (approx. 13,800 people) were involved in some form of engagement, discussion, or consultation during this process. This outcome was a renewed promise of ‘Working in Partnership for a happier world’.

The new purpose promise explicitly connected the internal experience of Partners with the external impact on customers, suppliers, and communities. It reaffirmed JLP as an ongoing experiment in finding happier, more trusted ways of doing business, one that aimed to generate sufficient profit to be fairer and more sustainable for everyone it touched. Going further, a new framework of ‘Happier Business, Happier People, and a Happier World’ was launched.

Embedding Purpose

Although a lot of research and planning went into the development and creation of the new purpose, the true challenge lay in making it meaningful in day-to-day decisions. To do this, JLP launched an Embed Purpose Programme structured around key workstreams.

First, purpose was placed at the centre of strategy, governance, and planning decisions. It informed objectives, key results and business cases, ensuring that commercial choices were explicitly linked to long-term aims.

Second, JLP focussed on engagement and sharing power. Leaders were tasked with cascading the purpose with their teams alongside activating it from the bottom up, reinforcing the idea that ownership brings both rights and responsibilities.

Third, the Partner experience at JLP was redesigned. Recruitment, onboarding, incentives, performance management, and skills development were all reviewed to ensure purpose was embedded from the very first interaction with the business. 

Fourth, customer propositions were realigned. Products, services, and brand promises were developed to link the refreshed purpose to customer happiness, further strengthening the connection between Partner experience and customer outcomes.

Even with this progress, there was a clear opportunity to delve even further into the unique nature of the Partnership. This was a moment to explore how the organisation’s founding values could be more powerfully expressed in a modern retail environment.

Through the Partnership Council – the unique governing body that represents the Partner voice and influences policy – the business engaged in further collaborative dialogue about the future. This process was less about looking back and more about looking forward; it was a chance to revitalise the co-owned model and ensure that the sense of shared purpose remained at the very heart of the business.

Throughout these discussions, a powerful consensus emerged: the ownership model is JLP’s most significant advantage. There was a firm belief that by articulating this model with renewed clarity and confidence, the business would unlock a new level of performance and distinction.

Defining & Launching the Partner Difference

In 2024, work began in earnest to articulate what ownership means in practice as much for Partners as for customers.

The aim was to clarify expectations, behaviours, and the value exchange at the heart of JLP’s model. The Partner Difference work sought to link three elements:

1. JLP’s co-owned structure
2. The value Partners bring to customers and each other
3. The commercial returns that make shared success possible

The resulting articulation provided Partners with a clearer narrative about why they work at JLP, why customers should shop there, and how leadership should be exercised in a co-owned business. 

Far from being a communications exercise, the Partner Difference quickly became a keystone of the people strategy, integrated into talent acquisition, leadership development, induction, onboarding, and performance appraisal. It set expectations on both sides, outlining what JLP asks of its Partners, and what Partners can expect in return. 

Strengthening the Foundations

With the Partner Difference in place, it also became clear that the democratic structures underpinning JLP’s model needed renewal. 

The response was ‘Democracy for All’, an internal programme aimed at making democracy more agile, relevant, accessible and impactful. It was launched with extensive listening in summer 2024, with implementation throughout 2025. 

New Local and Partnership Forums were introduced. Local Forums added structure, support, and a democratic focus into each area of the Partnership. Partnership Forums were designed to be flexible – adopting a fixed, temporary, or pop-up structure – and targeted to specific issues. Although there’d be fewer Partnership forums overall, they’d be more purposeful, created and disbanded as needs changed. 

As part of this shift, the Partnership Council was reshaped to sharpen its focus on governance, policy, and influence. Changes to election design aimed to improve diversity of representation, with mechanisms to ensure all voices were heard, aligning with JLP’s vision to be the “UK’s most inclusive business”. 

A dedicated ‘Democracy on Tour’ programme provided practical action to support these structural changes. The programme saw teams visit every area of the business, alongside virtual engagement, podcasts, and renewed storytelling about the heritage and purpose of JLP democracy.

Unlocking the Model for 2026 & Beyond

With a refreshed purpose, a clearer Partner Difference, and renewed democratic foundations, John Lewis Partnership is now entering a new phase. 

A long-term strategic plan places renewed emphasis on unlocking the full potential of its ownership model. The focus is on ensuring that Partner opinion flows better, faster, and supports more informed decisions. 

This future vision rests on three combined strengths of being purpose driven, financially independent, and employee owned. Alongside the strength of the John Lewis and Waitrose brands, and JLP’s growing presence in other sectors, these elements offer a distinctive platform for long-term success. 

The experiment that began over a century ago continues to unfold. The challenges have changed and the language and form have evolved, but the underlying belief of a business owned by its people and guided by shared purpose can compete and thrive in the modern marketplace remains unchanged.