16 year-old takes top job at John Lewis

A teenage employee has experienced the responsibility of an accelerated promotion, when he became head of branch at John Lewis, just 10 months into the job.

The 16-year-old took charge of the Norwich-based store, while senior managers were left to man the shop floor or work in the canteen as part of a top-level shake-up to mark National Employee Ownership Day.

Lee Sutton was put in charge of the department store for a day, to promote the profile of John Lewis’ employment structure, which gives employees an equal share of the company profits at the end of each financial year.