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John Lewis announces 200 job cuts in customer service

By Nithya Bose in Business News, posted February 26, 2024

John Lewis will cut around 200 jobs as it scales back the number of customer service staff contracted through Foundever.

Foundever has been managing most of the struggling company's customer service operations for 17 years.

The department store, which employs over 1,000 customer service staff, announced the move as part of a strategy to resize its in-house customer service team to pre-Christmas levels.

Despite efforts to find alternative roles for those affected within the company, John Lewis acknowledged some redundancies are inevitable.

Due to these adjustments, the company said that its internal customer service team will revert to its pre-Christmas numbers.

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A John Lewis spokesman said: “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.”

This news follows Sharon White's recent announcement of cutting 11,000 jobs at the company in a profitability driver.

White assured employees that the company would surpass the break-even point, rebounding from a £234 million loss the previous year.

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