The John Lewis Partnership is to enhance its final salary pension scheme and introduce a defined contribution (DC) plan for new joiners in order to include more staff in the scheme and engage them with the organisation.
The changes, which will be implemented as a result of staff feedback, will mean employees can join the final salary scheme after three years' service rather than the current five years. Staff who have joined the organisation since February 2003, will also have their membership of the scheme backdated to their third anniversary.
New joiners, however, will be able to join a new DC scheme though which their contributions of up to 6% will be matched by the partnership until the end of the three year waiting period, after which they can join the final salary scheme.
The changes are expected to take place in October this year when around 18% of staff will be affected and will be able to move into the final salary scheme. The changes will be communicated in the organisation's in-house magazine and on the intranet.
A spokesperson from the John Lewis Partnership said: "The partnership is run for the benefit and happiness of its [staff] and to do that we have to be a high-quality retailer. We looked at the issues that affect everybody and this was a major one. We want to make the scheme more inclusive."