John Lewis’s report doesn’t live up to expectation

When it comes to the John Lewis Partnership’s 2011 sustainability report, expectations are bound to be high. After all, John Lewis is the UK’s largest employee-owned company, with a reputation for quality, ethical behaviourand exceptional customer service. Right at the start, the report proudly proclaims: “CSR has always been part of the way we do business.”  

There is certainly plenty of evidence of this for visitors to the John Lewis department stores and the group’s Waitrose upmarket food stores – from community collection boxes and mattress recycling, to strong support for local suppliers.

But the report itself doesn’t quite deliver. While it is well presented and demonstrates good progress in many areas of performance, two key elements are missing.

Grand plan?

First, despite the report’s title – A Clear View – there is no hint of an overall strategy. This may well be because the company has not yet set a clear long-term strategy, rather than a failing of the report to communicate it. In any event, it means that despite plenty of examples of good practice, the reader is left feeling lost as to where the company is heading.

Second, poor storytelling compounds this problem by making it hard to understand how all the pieces fit together. The report states early on that the company’s partnership structure makes it different, but it doesn’t connect the dots to show how that structure puts it in a strong position on sustainability.

The message from the chairman, Charlie Mayfield, is short and sweet. The strong connection he makes between corporate responsibility and commercial decision making is refreshing, but he fails to offer any real insight into the company’s underlying approach or ambition. He simply suggests that the partnership will deliver sustainable growth by doing business responsibly.

The four main sections of the report do make the partnership’s sustainability focus areas clear: people; environment; customers, products and suppliers; and communities. And within these, there is evidence of specific objectives.

The environment section is the most ambitious. It is centred on a 10-year carbon plan that will deliver a 15% absolute reduction in emissions, alongside aspirations to grow the business.

The process the company went through to create the plan is described in detail, but what’s missing is the plan itself. Without explicitly mapped out milestones along the way to the 15% target, it’s difficult to understand how the various carbon-saving activities mentioned in the report will achieve that result.

The report demonstrates impressive leadership in product stewardship. Together, John Lewis and Waitrose have 10 commitments and targets across their wide range of products. In 2011, Waitrose became the first UK supermarket to commit to sourcing all soya for its own-brand products from sources certified by the Roundtable on Responsible Soy. But specific examples like this are sporadic.

Other sections struggle to reach their potential. Given the central role of employees in the partnership, the Our People section is disappointing. It details a new partnership strategy, but this includes only one target and two commitments. And again there is little information on how the strategy will work in practice.

The community section also fails to offer a clear approach, and addressing activities at Waitrose and John Lewis separately makes it feel disjointed.

Where the report does well is in demonstrating performance. Details of the company’s approach to sustainability are at the back of the document, making room for an impressive performance summary upfront. This shows progress against targets in a neat one-page grid, followed by two pages of graphics on performance over the past three years.

Uncompelling narrative 

But the overriding feeling is that the report as a whole fails to tell a compelling story. Rather than setting out performance in the wider context of the issues and challenges identified, it simply lists issues, indicators and activities. Individually many of these seem impressive, but the report fails to pull them together into a meaningful long-term strategy.

The John Lewis Partnership has achieved what many companies long to do, with a strong reputation for responsible and ethical behaviour among its customers. From its consumer communications, it would seem that the company has a great sustainability story to tell.

But this sustainability report fails to get that story across. Indeed, judging by the report alone it would be difficult to identify the company as the sustainability leader it otherwise appears to be.

Snapshot

Follows GRI? Yes, B [not GRI checked].

Assured? No

Materiality analysis? Yes

Goals? Yes

Targets? Some. Mainly for products, packaging and building development rather than people or communities.

Stakeholder input? Yes

Seeks feedback? No

Key strengths? Clearly demonstrates progress and performance.

Chief weakness? Lacks strategic direction.

Pleasant surprise? Clear link between corporate responsibility and commercial decision making in chairman’s statement.

Emily Haynes is a consultant at sustainability strategy and communications consultancy Context.