John Lewis Partnership Annual Report and Accounts 2015

Annual Report and Accounts 2015

John Lewis Partnership plc

117

BonusSave

The Partnership operates BonusSave, a Share Incentive Plan (‘the Plan’), which is available to all Partners and has been approved by HMRC. In conjunction with the announcement of the annual results, all Partners are invited to enter into a savings contract under the Plan to save up to a maximum of £5,400 in any one year. The Plan allows for the investment made by Partners to be held in shares in the Partnership, in a class created specifically for this purpose known as SIP Shares. Details of SIP Shares can be found in note 6. The SIP Shares do not carry voting rights, cannot be sold or transferred out of the Partnership and are, at all times, held in trust for the benefit of the respective Partners in the name of the Trust Company.

Respecting human rights

We source products from numerous countries globally, have 93,800 Partners, serve millions of customers and are an integral part of hundreds of communities across the UK. We have a responsibility to respect the human rights of these groups and our responsibilities are set out in our Constitution.

Our approach

We are committed to upholding human rights and support the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Labour Organization (ILO) Core Conventions. We investigate allegations of human rights infringements and take appropriate action where necessary.

As a large omnichannel retailer, our greatest areas of influence with respect to human rights are our Partners and our supply chain.

The complexity of this policy area should not be underestimated and we believe careful risk assessment and collaboration are essential in the identification and remediation of issues. Human rights-related risks are overseen by the Partnership Audit and Risk Committee as part of the annual review of Responsible Sourcing for John Lewis and Waitrose and governance of CSR as a whole is overseen by The Chairman’s Committee.

Partners

Our Partner Plan (page 52) outlines the priorities and activities that bring Principle 1 to life for our Partners as co-owners of the business. It focusses on performance and reward, learning and progression, inclusive ownership and working better. Partners’ voices are heard through their relationship with their managers, our democratic process, annual Partner Survey and ongoing journalism. Our dedicated registry also provides confidential support for those Partners who need it. In 2014, we focussed on Pay for Performance and diversity and inclusion.

Supply chain

We adopt a comprehensive approach to respecting human rights through our supply chain:

a Standards – All own-brand suppliers are required to comply with our Responsible Sourcing Code of Practice (‘Code’), as set out in our Terms and Conditions of Purchase. The Code is based on the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) base code and on the conventions of the ILO. Potential and existing sites are monitored regularly through independent ethical audits. Where non- compliance is found, remedial action is undertaken to mitigate it.

a Insight – We continually assess risks through our supply chains to guide our responsible sourcing strategies

a Training and communications – Buyers and technical teams are trained on the Code to drive increased awareness and understanding of the Code

a Collaboration – We work with our suppliers and with multi-stakeholder groups such as the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) to build knowledge and find solutions. Two examples of our work in 2014 are:

– UK Modern Slavery Act – we lent our support to a letter sent to the Government from the ETI and the British Retail Consortium requesting stronger wording in the draft modern slavery bill; and

– Stronger Together – Waitrose is a sponsor of this multi-stakeholder initiative, which aims to reduce human trafficking, forced labour and hidden third-party exploitation of workers. We have encouraged our suppliers to attend Stronger Together workshops to raise their understanding of these issues.

Continual improvement

We strive for continual improvement in this complex area. Over the coming year we will be conducting a comprehensive review of our human rights strategy based on the outputs of our materiality assessment and taking into consideration the new UN Guiding Principles Reporting Framework, the UK Government’s National Action Plan on Human Rights and the UK Modern Slavery Act.

In a nutshell...

The Directors’ Report is a document produced by the board of directors under the requirements of UK company law, which details the state of the company and its compliance with a set of financial, accounting and corporate social responsibility regulations.

Introduction

Partnership difference

Principles

Strategy

Performance

Governance

Financial statements

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