John Lewis to hire 7,000 temporary roles this Christmas

The John Lewis Partnership says it will recruit 7,000 temporary roles across the country this Christmas - 2,000 more than last year - to meet increased demand.

The new roles will span the partnership’s Waitrose and John Lewis stores, with the latter including sales and merchandising positions.

“We know that as the first Christmas after lockdown, customers will want to make it really special and we’re throwing everything we can into helping them celebrate - our festive team will have a crucial role to play,” said John Lewis Partnership’s people director Nikki Humphrey in a release.

In addition to the temporary roles, the company said it is recruiting over 550 permanent full-time driver and warehouse partner roles across its distribution centres and customer delivery centres.

The company also has a new 300,000 square foot distribution centre at Bardon, Leicestershire which it says will help support additional online demand ahead of Black Friday.