Boss of John Lewis blames early retirement of 50 plus aged people for staffing issues

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Nosmo-King

Well-known member
Really? I don’t know many 50 year olds that can retire! I would have thought the trend was indeed the other way with folk having to work into later life rather than early retirement. Cost of living, pension pots on a downward spiral would mean there is little choice but to continue working.

There will be exceptions and some who have built up a sizeable pension pot may well feel like biting the bullet and giving up work, good luck to them.

I will be one of those who continues to work - certainly for a minimum of 18 months and then review the situation at that time.
 
I think John Lewis used to have a pretty generous pension provision?

Personally, I used to work for Royal Mail and our pension was non contributory final salary (about as good as it gets) and the retirement age was 60. I left RM some 15+ years ago and the only regret is that I lost out on that retirement date (but if I had stayed I would have lost out on that anyway).

I'm now looking at retiring in 2024 when I will be 65, my state pension won't kick in until I'm 66 but that's OK, my pensions combined should allow me to have a decent standard of living. I'm in the position now that I could retire if I wanted to, I'm doing what some people now call "quiet quitting", I don't have to say yes to anything I don't fancy doing at work to try to ingratiate myself with the boss and if they try to pressure me I'll walk. It's quite a nice place to be.
 
Muttley said:
I'm now looking at retiring in 2024 when I will be 65, my state pension won't kick in until I'm 66 but that's OK, my pensions combined should allow me to have a decent standard of living. I'm in the position now that I could retire if I wanted to, I'm doing what some people now call "quiet quitting", I don't have to say yes to anything I don't fancy doing at work to try to ingratiate myself with the boss and if they try to pressure me I'll walk. It's quite a nice place to be.
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Exactly the same! I'm just hanging on in there. I'm not saving anything but hoping to only start drawing down my pension when I really need to.
 
Millbrook said:
Don't companies need profits to survive?
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yes, fair enough - but individuals need more than basic wages and drudgery in their lives. As others have said, pay better wages and keep more staff

maybe JL should do something like this:

news.sky.com

Nationwide offers 11,000 workers a £1,200 bonus to help with bills

The building society has joined a host of companies racing to offer one-off bonuses and pay rises to stave off worker rebellions and retain talent amid a shortage of staff in the labour market.
news.sky.com news.sky.com
 
Wiseman_Vaughn said:
Exactly the same! I'm just hanging on in there. I'm not saving anything but hoping to only start drawing down my pension when I really need to.
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Similar, working to a rolling 3 months if I get fed up will just give my 3 months notice so could retire in 3 months or 3 years depending on how things go. Although expect it to be sooner rather than later
 
Would people who have been able to retire at 50 work in John Lewis anyway?
I can’t imagine unless it’s senior roles they’d pay anyone enough to do that.
 
LowMoorBoro said:
Would people who have been able to retire at 50 work in John Lewis anyway?
I can’t imagine unless it’s senior roles they’d pay anyone enough to do that.
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It's a funny thing, I remember a few years ago I would see people I worked with retire and then appear working in WH Smiffs or B&Q for a couple of days a week just to get the social interaction that they were missing. It's not a universal thing some people cope better with retirement than others and until you retire you won't know how you will cope/adjust.
 
Are these people employed at John Lewis she is talking about? Can't see anywhere in the articles that say it is, but more a general workforce observation?

There are more roles at John Lewis than shop floor, too.
Ironops said:
yes, fair enough - but individuals need more than basic wages and drudgery in their lives. As others have said, pay better wages and keep more staff

maybe JL should do something like this:

news.sky.com

Nationwide offers 11,000 workers a £1,200 bonus to help with bills

The building society has joined a host of companies racing to offer one-off bonuses and pay rises to stave off worker rebellions and retain talent amid a shortage of staff in the labour market.
news.sky.com news.sky.com
Click to expand...
John Lewis has historically given its staff a bonus based on performance, it has been Uk to 20%+ but obviously those glory days of retail have long gone

Imagine it's easier for a mortgage bank to pay a cost of living bonus than it is for town centre retail firm losing millions
 
Couple of people I worked with 'retired' early 50s once the mortgage was paid off and one salary was enough. They pick up part time jobs and one just spends time walking other people's dogs until their partner retires in a couple of years. Far less stress and as others above have said, you can leave if you don't feel it's working for you.
 
the whole "staffing shortage" is a completely fabricated joke.

There is no staffing shortage. Period. What there is, is a shortage of people wiling to work crappy jobs on working poverty wages on zero hours contracts for employers that expect/demand total loyalty and servitude.

people are sick of and have realised they dont need to expose themselves to this slow torture. This is not living.
 
Pension pots may be on a "downward spiral" but the value of most well spread investments are still considerably up on values in 2018.
 
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