John Lewis and Keystone share best practice

John Lewis Department Stores has teamed up with McDonalds UKs distribution company, Keystone Distribution UK, to implement a job swap scheme.

Managers from John Lewis and Keystone Distribution UK will take part in the programme that has been designed as part of both businesses talent management programmes and as a means to share best practice.

The job swap entails Keystone middle managers spending a week working with a counterpart in a similar role at John Lewis, and vice versa. Following successful trials this summer, the scheme is now being rolled out.

Both John Lewis and Keystone have slick distribution operations, but there is always room for improvement, says Claire Pearson, Keystones HR Director. This will be a fantastic opportunity for both of us, as our managers will spend time with each other to improve their awareness about how other leading companies operate and enable them to bring best practice back.

Every manager who completes the scheme will be required to develop a 10-point action plan to improve operations by implementing ideas from the job swap. Warehouse shop floor practices, shift pattern management, communication and employee engagement have all been highlighted as areas for study and improvement.

John Lewis Personnel Manager of Distribution, Paul Hymers, said: Through co-operation between our two companies we will increase the development opportunities for our management teams and through that strengthen our succession planning.  There are many benefits on offer and I know our managers are looking forward to this experience.

The summer pilot project involved four managers from Keystones state-of-the-art Hemel Hempstead distribution centre and John Lewiss Stevenage DC spending one week working with their counterpart in a similar role.