John Lewis moved to discredit high street competitors and assure staff that they will provide sick pay, regardless of Covid status.
Many retailers such as Ikea, Morrisons Next, and Ocado have policies that restrict sick pay to unjabbed workers who self-isolate.
Sign of the times: John Lewis will ‘cast no judgment’ on other businesses and that the pandemic had often left firms with ‘just a choice between a range of unappealing options’
In a blog post, John Lewis group operations director Andrew Murphy told staff – whom it calls partners – across its department stores and Waitrose grocers: ‘We just don’t believe it’s right to create a link between a partner’s vaccination status and the pay they receive.
‘When life increasingly seems to present opportunities to create division – and with hopes rising that the pandemic phase of Covid may be coming to an end – we’re confident that this is the right approach.’
John Lewis did not judge other companies and often gave firms ‘just one choice’ between unappetizing options.