Building a ‘happier business’ through data upskilling at John Lewis Partnership
Discover how a Multiverse data upskilling programme is helping the retailer enhance customer service, while giving learners new confidence.
Industry
Retail
Headcount
70,000+
600+
JLP Partners enrolled in Multiverse data programmes
200+
hours per year saved by one learner
93%
of learners to date achieved merit or distinction grade
The goal
The John Lewis Partnership (JLP) is the UK’s largest employee-owned business and the parent company of two iconic retail brands – John Lewis and Waitrose.
Owned in Trust by 70,000 employees (referred to at JLP as Partners), the business processes a significant volume of data, and wanted to boost its internal data skills capability.
“Any modern retailer has to become a data business to some extent. We sell so many different things – from houmous to boots to televisions – that the data is flying all over the place all the time. With 60% of sales online in some of our categories, that means that we have to use data quickly on the decisions that we make. It goes beyond specialist data practitioners, it’s everybody asking the right questions and knowing what’s possible with data.”
Barry Panayi
Chief Data and Insight Officer, John Lewis Partnership
JLP had three key goals for the data upskilling programme:
- Building a happier business by unlocking the value of data: giving Partners the data skills to drive cost savings and find new revenue opportunities.
- Driving productivity and efficiency with data: helping learners save time previously spent on manual data tasks and using data to drive business impact.
- Supporting happier Partners through talent development: investing in skills, supporting career development and enabling lifelong learning.
“Part of our data strategy for the Partnership is around self-service capability, education and engagement. If everyone across the Partnership was 10% better at using data, when they’re reading reports or making decisions, imagine how powerful that could be.”
Lester Berry
Director of Analytics and Data Science
“Upskilling and career development is really important at JLP. We have a huge number of Partners who began their careers on the shop floor and have since moved into head office or more senior leadership roles. Apprenticeships give great development opportunities to Partners, offer real-time learning whilst on the job, and give them skills that they can use to develop their careers.”
Chrissy Scoltock
Progression Programme Specialist
The solution
JLP partnered with Multiverse in 2023 to launch its first cohort of data upskilling programmes.
The retailer now has over 600 data apprentices across the business, in divisions spanning the supply chain, shops, head office and hotels. With support from Apprenticeship Levy funding, the programme gives Partners the opportunity to develop new skills in data analytics.
“Our data programme is a huge investment from the Partnership in our data-driven culture. In terms of launching apprenticeships to scale, working with the team at Multiverse has opened our eyes to the art of the possible.”
Chrissy Scoltock
Progression Programme Specialist
The results
Learners have used their new data skills to increase productivity and find better ways to help customers.
Unlocking value from data
Simon’s story
Learner Simon Page set up a dashboard to highlight observations on service interactions between Partners and customers. At one point, it was the most used Tableau dashboard in the business, with two shops seeing some of the highest improvements in customer service during that time.
“I think the course did a really good job of teaching you how to dive in and validate data. I was able to create powerful dashboards a lot easier than I ever would have been able to, and share a huge amount of data, in a way that people could easily understand it.”
Simon Page
Multiverse learner
“The dashboard that Simon was able to roll out has absolutely linked to us delivering our customer experience expectations. It enabled the business to look at different themes across the estate.”
Louise Wenn
Service and Capability Manager
Driving productivity and efficiency gains
Laura’s story
The Waitrose Operations team faced inefficiencies in tracking new agency starters. Using skills gained on the Data and Insights for Business Decisions programme, learner Laura Zilite developed a user-friendly spreadsheet to automate a manual tracking process, using Google Apps Script. Her work streamlines data entry and ensures real-time updates, significantly enhancing data collection and presentation.
The initiative is forecast to deliver time savings totalling 218 hours a year. The smoother operations allows the team to focus on essential tasks, promoting greater productivity while reducing human error. Laura trained colleagues on the new system, growing knowledge sharing further while reinforcing team collaboration.
“Without the Multiverse programme, I probably wouldn’t have thought to use automation and macros; it pushed me to look for solutions I wouldn’t have considered before.”
Laura Zilite
Partner & PM Operational Trainer
“JLP as a whole is more confident than it was before in data insight and analytics. Everyone knows somebody that's either done the apprenticeship or is feeling more comfortable with data. People are empowered to make the difference – they're saving hours a day, changing the way they do tasks, or even automating them all together. You multiply that by the 70,000 people that work here, and you begin to see the potential savings. That, in turn, means our Data and Insights team can operate at a higher level.”
Barry Panayi
Chief Data and Insight Officer
Increasing Partner happiness
Throughout the programme, learners receive dedicated support from their Multiverse coach.
“Being able to learn and implement as you go, meant that you were building on skills week in, week out. The model was really, really helpful. We had the pre-work, then support from your coach. Just being able to ask for advice and have that resource there was absolutely immeasurable.”
Evlyn Wilkes
Multiverse learner
The results are clear: JLP learners are achieving exceptional marks in their apprenticeships. 93% of learners achieved a merit or distinction grade out of the 150 who have completed the course.
Supporting career progression
Programme learners are supercharging their careers, armed with new data skills:
“Completing the programme, having that confidence, and the skills to back up that confidence, has meant that my job has become even more varied. For me, it has raised my profile within the business.”
Evlyn Wilkes
Multiverse learner
“I’ve moved roles since my programme – I'm now brand experience manager. I used an example from my apprenticeship in my interview and I got the job.”
Simon Page
Multiverse learner
What’s next
The data upskilling partnership will continue into the future, with JLP planning to launch multiple new cohorts.
“What Multiverse promised, and have delivered, is the whole wrapper around the courses – the enthusiasm, the explanation, engaging the rest of the business – Multiverse have taken that on.”
Lester Berry
Director of Analytics and Data Science
“Our relationship with Multiverse has been going on a long time, and people are excited about it. It’s the thing people stop me in the corridor to talk about. The Multiverse programme has impacted the whole of JLP by giving it confidence, but also sticking to our values of experimentation and empowerment for every Partner.”
Barry Panayi
Chief Data and Insight Officer
600+
JLP Partners enrolled in Multiverse data programmes
200+
hours per year saved by one learner
93%
of learners to date achieved merit or distinction grade
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