The John Lewis Partnership has slumped to a £99 million loss in the first half of 2022 as it said it chose to "forgo" profit to help staff and customers through the cost of living crisis.
The Partnership, which owns Waitrose and John Lewis, has faced “unprecedented” cost hikes and says the rest of this year, including the peak Christmas season, will be “highly uncertain”.
It also announced Waitrose and John Lewis staff will get a £500 one-off payment as part of a wider £45million support package.
The retailers are also giving their staff free food between October and January to help with the rising cost of living.
The meals are being handed out to full-time staff, also known as partners, as well as part-time and agency staff.
Staff on a four-hour shift staff can have a free breakfast, lunch or dinner, depending on when they're working.
Someone working an eight-hour shift gets two meals.
Workers at big stores, head offices and distribution hubs will get their free meals in canteens.
Staff at smaller stores get food like packed salads or sandwiches.
Waitrose and John Lewis lorry drivers get packed meals to take with them.
The two companies are also hiring more than 10,000 temporary roles across the country this Christmas to tackle the festive shopping rush.
The 10,000 jobs will be in Waitrose and John Lewis shops as well as its distribution network.
The John Lewis Partnership will recruit 4,000 seasonal roles across 331 Waitrose shops.
This will include supermarket assistants, night shift workers and customer delivery drivers.
There will also be 2,000 temporary roles for 34 John Lewis stores, including sales and merchandising positions.
Anyone interested can register at jlpjobs.com/Christmas, with jobs going live throughout September and October.
A few permanent roles will be advertised too.
The John Lewis Partnership is also hiring 4,000 staff in its supply chain, via recruitment agencies.
These roles include warehouse workers and drivers.
More details on how to apply for these roles is here.
Waitrose’s operating profit fell by £93million to £432million.
The firm often loses money in the first half of the year only to make it all back over the Christmas period.
Dame Sharon White, chairman of the John Lewis Partnership, said: “No one could have predicted the scale of the cost-of-living crisis that has materialised, with energy prices and inflation rising ahead of anyone’s expectations.
“As a business, we have faced unprecedented cost inflation across grocery and general merchandise.”
She added: “We are responding to the cost of living crisis by supporting those who need it and by stepping up our efficiency programme."
Waitrose is scrapping "best before" dates on nearly 500 products as part of its plans to tackle food waste.
