John Lewis staff have accused the firm of “spying” on them by fitting mystery shoppers with hidden body cameras.
The retailer claims it is being done to improve customer and says mystery shoppers have been using “discreet body cameras” to record interactions with staff.
It has been trialled at five John Lewis and four Waitrose stores.
According to documents seen by the Mirror , the test is “designed to find out if video replays can improve customer service”.
It adds only “selected managers” and those staff – known as Partners – who are filmed will see the footage.
But some workers are furious.
Writing in the firm’s Gazette magazine, one said, “many Partners are threatening legal action”. Adding: “Filming is a gross invasion of privacy.”
Another said it, “could be perceived as spying/ Big Brother ”.
One worker told the Mirror: “It has really upset a lot of people.”
John Lewis admitted the trial uses “a filmed form of mystery shopping”. But it said staff “will be made aware this is happening in their shop before it takes place”.
Meanwhile, the group is putting pressure on its landlords to reduce rents in a bid to cut costs, as the high street downturn continues to weigh on retailers.
It is understood that the company has been informing landlords in some locations that it will withhold 20 per cent of this quarter's service charge as it seeks reductions.
The retail giant said service charge increases from landlords have been "simply not acceptable" and have resulted in the high street firm doing "everything we can to reduce our cost base".
A John Lewis Partnership spokeswoman said: "At a time when we are doing everything we can to reduce our cost base, we have unfortunately been faced with regular increases to the service charges we pay for some of our shops in shopping centres.
The calls for rent reductions come days after John Lewis announced plans to cut around 75 office roles as part of a major restructuring planned to reduce costs by around £100 million.
