Happy Staff, Happy Customers


Later this year, the department store chain John Lewis will be opening a massive new flagship store in my home city of Leeds. It will be one of their largest stores outside of London.

The company has recently advertised 550 news jobs at the Leeds store, and they have been completely inundated with applications, which is not surprising, since John Lewis, has just been named the UK's most sought-after employer in a new list published by LinkedIn. Virgin Media came second in the list, followed by Harrods and Google.

LinkedIn (the world's largest social media network for professionals) created the ‘UK Top Attractors’ list after analysing the online activities of its 20 million UK members.

John Lewis Personnel Director Harriet Hounsell said: "Attracting top talent to join us is integral to our success. It’s wonderful to know that potential new partners are taking the time to interact with John Lewis on LinkedIn, a key platform for us, in order to get a sense for our brand.”

The release of the Top Attractors list coincides with research by LinkedIn that reveals what HR managers and recruiters should be offering in order to attract top talent. This includes the importance of flexible working and a good corporate culture, with the research showing that 78% of UK workers would not tolerate a bad corporate culture. The research also highlights how salaries continue to be the biggest consideration for employees in the UK - with almost half respondents saying it was an important factor in weighing up career opportunities.

John Lewis is not only known for being a highly sought-after employer, with a low rate of employee churn. It also has a very loyal customer base and an excellent customer satisfaction rating (it is currently ranked 6th best UK company in the UK Customer Satisfaction Index). That’s proof - if it was needed - that there is a clear correlation between happy employees and loyal customers.