// John Lewis chairman Dame Sharon White says those who retired during the pandemic should return to work to help avert a recession in the UK
// She said introducing flexible retirement plans and skills courses for older workers to retrain in different jobs could encourage people back into work
John Lewis boss Dame Sharon White has urged the government to encourage more older people back into work after an exodus of over 50s left their jobs during the pandemic.
The UK has seen one million people, mostly in their 50s, leave work since the start of the Covid-19 outbreak, which has fueled wage inflation.
White said in order to avert a recession, the government needed people in that age bracket to return to work.
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She told the BBC: “Regardless of what has happened coming out of Covid, if the labour market is that tight, if we continue to have far fewer people in work, looking for work – you’ve inevitably got more inflation and more wage inflation.”
The John Lewis chair said she had “never seen anything quite like the economic environment” at the moment, adding it was vital that the UK avoided an extended period of low productivity and low rates of growth.
“How do we avoid the UK becoming Japan with persistently low rates of productivity and very low persistent rates of growth? To come out of that you have got to get businesses investing.”
She said introducing flexible retirement plans for people and skills courses for older workers to retrain for different jobs could help encourage people back into work.
Inflation is currently at a 40-year high while the Bank of England has warned the UK will fall into recession later this year.
White, who is a former Treasury civil servant, said she was cautious about giving advice to her former colleagues, but said one area that had not had enough attention was the jobs market situation over the last 18 months.
“There’s not a business in the UK that’s not finding it very difficult to recruit at the moment because there are so many more jobs and so far fewer people looking for work. It’s a big issue,” she explained.
White admitted trading for John Lewis had been “tough” over the past few months, and the retailer was focusing on how it can help customers through loyalty schemes as well its staff.
She said John Lewis had doubled its financial assistance fund – a pot of cash where workers can apply for grants and loans if they have difficulty paying bills – from £400,000 to £800,000.
John Lewis has also handed out a bonus of 3% this year to its 80,000, equivalent to one-and-a-half weeks’ pay, and increased wages by 2%.
However, the current rate at which prices are rising is at 9.4% and is expected to peak at 13% later this year.
Asked why John Lewis couldn’t increase its wages in line with the rising cost of living, White said the department store retailer had to “try to balance how do we ensure our partners are able to cope with the cost of living whilst also thinking about the affordability of pay for the business”.
“I think the same dilemmas that the partnership faces are the same dilemmas that the whole of the economy faces,” she added.
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12 Comments. Leave new
She was the one who got rid of the experienced staff in the first place. Out of her depth, another company she has brought to the brink of disaster.
Should never be allowed near another company again. Totally useless.
Hmm. Sounds simplistic
Companies need to start treating people like people again and not a resource to be used and abused at the company’s whim.
Scary misunderstanding of the current inflation, it is not wage driven, it is supply chain driven with corporate profits substantially higher than 12 months ago (as the opportunity is taken to increase prices above the rate of cost increases). Only City workers are getting wage increases anywhere near the inflation rate.
Absolutely correct. Very scary to get it completely wrong. Still, she used to work in the Treasury and presumably was over promoted there as well. Can’t think why
So, a former Treasury civil servant is against wage rises.
But it’s ok to make more and more corporate profits and flood the country with new arrivals to suppress wage growth. Since 1997 I think the average retail worker has been the hardest hit sector of any.
Will we see many Treasury civil servants accept minimum wage? No, never.
I know Lewis’ have problems finding talented execs but this remark takes the biscuit. There is no wage inflation, merely a rise that is not keeping pace with inflation. Shame she didn’t make these comments on her own and other exec pay rises.
Why is she admitting that older people were paid badly and much less than younger people are asking for – could it be something to do with the cost of real estate that she has championed over the decade
Why does she think over 50s are fueling inflation and buying lots of petrol and other goods, whilst so many are clearly using food banks?
How are those retired causing global inflation?
Does she know that many have been forced into retirement because they were contractors and IR35 ruined the jobs market?
This is just plain air-head economics, and it is sad to hear it from someone formally working in the Treasury. A lot of people retired when made redundant a few years back when ageist policies worked against them. Now according to this bright spark, it is their fault.
However did she become a Dame?
As one of the over 50’s forced into redundancy from JLP just before lockdown, I find these comments from Sharon crass and incredibly insensitive.
That’s the same person who done away with two levels of management, and the only option was redundancy. My partner was one of 400 managers shown the door in January 2022 and had almost 30 years experience.
No wonder the business is in trouble with fools like this running it.
It’s not so simple for over 50s to go back into education. We do need more social carers but the pay and conditions are so bad. We also need nurses, dentists, GPS, teachers etc. How would over 50’s retire when there’s no benefits like there were? More like sacked and lost jobs retail that closed down. More need to look and get into some needed jobs. White is ruining John Lewis. Waitrose has wasted food. People aren’t eating much vegan. They need to cut stores.
Shame on Ms White on her over inflated executive salary… let’s place the blame where it really lays, overpaid CEO’s, CFO’s, Directors… over inflated profits driven by greedy corporate measures put in place by the aforementioned CEO’s… The Influx of USA Venture capitalists that want to extract billions out of the uk tax system. It’s easy to blame middle and lower income earners, the retired but let’s join together and target the real greed in our society…