New John Lewis chair braces staff for store closures and job losses

White said in a private meeting with the retailer’s staff council there would “undoubtedly be difficult decisions about stores and about jobs” for the business in the coming months.

White said John Lewis was undergoing the “most challenging period as a partnership” in its history and needed to “cut costs wherever we can”.

“Despite all the hard work and all the commitment of partners, trading results are disappointing,” she said.

“We are not making as much money as we’d like, not making as much money as we need to do to invest in the business, but also to invest in partners.”

White said any decisions about jobs and stores would not be taken lightly, and the group would endeavour to “apply our humanity” to affected staff in a way that would set John Lewis & Partners apart from rival non-partnership retail businesses.

She also said John Lewis needed to “really improve the diversity of the partners we are hiring” and a partnership that is “more reflective of society” would be “a real boon” for the business.

White, who previously led media regulator Ofcom, is the first woman and black person to run the retail mutual.

Her succession of former chair Sir Charlie Mayfield comes at a challenging time for the business, which recorded a fall in Christmas sales and saw the exit of John Lewis’ former managing director Paula Nickolds last month.

Despite focusing on the need for the business to cut costs, White was bullish about John Lewis & Partners’ prospects as a business that had clear relevance in society.

“The partnership is the business for our times; the partnership’s values are the values for our times,” she said.

“I’d love to see us being the leading ethical retailer in the UK and I think that’s an ambition all of us can easily meet.”