Hundreds of John Lewis customer service staff are facing redundancy as the retailer looks to cut the size of its team at a key outsourcer by 20%.
The Partnership, which also owns Waitrose, is said to be axing the number of people it contracts from customer service provider Foundever, which has been a partner of the business for the past 17 years.
According to The Telegraph, John Lewis is looking to shrink its team, which stands at more than 1,000 employees, by around 200 people.
The Partnership said it was trying to find jobs for the workers impacted by the move, but some will face redundancies.
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John Lewis also employs its own in-house customer service workers and said its overall team would return to the same size it was before Christmas.
The downsizing move comes weeks after the partnership revealed it was expecting to slash up to 11,000 jobs over the next five years as it steps up its turnaround efforts.
However, the upcoming wave of redundancies come against a backdrop of criticism that customer service at John Lewis has deteriorated in recent years.
A spokesman for the retailer told The Telegraph: “Customer service is incredibly important to us and our team is made up of both in-house partners and support from third parties.
“We’re constantly reviewing our model to make sure we continue to meet our customers’ needs.
“We’re working with Foundever to support their staff and offer alternative roles within our own business where we can.”
Foundever added: “All affected employees have been informed and we are now entering a 45-day consultation period throughout which our priority is to engage with them directly while ensuring that the exceptional level of service that John Lewis customers expect will not be impacted by these changes.”
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