John Lewis's weekly in-house magazine, The Gazette, encourages vigorous debate about – and often criticism of – the Partnership by staff in a remarkable correspondence section, typically four pages, in which staff are free to write anonymously and as critically as they like. According to the Partnership: "All anonymous letters must be published unless the Chairman is prepared to certify that such publication would be harmful to the organisation. If he does so decide, the writer can appeal to the Trustees. Refusal to publish is rare". Letters which require comment must be answered, and nearly all are accompanied by responses from the Partnership's senior managers. The magazine promotes free and open debate – about both policy and personnel issues – of a kind that most companies go out of their way to pre vent.
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