John Lewis Partnership axed 3,800 jobs over the past year to cut costs across its department stores and supermarkets.
Some 70,500 people were employed by the group as of late January, against 74,300 a year earlier, a report said on Thursday.
Attrition accounted for most of the cuts, said The Telegraph, with the job losses leading to around £26 million in savings.
The number of employees at Waitrose fell by 3,100 to 49,600 over the year, while 600 jobs were cut at John Lewis as some roles were added elsewhere.
Reports say the partnership is mulling as many as 11,000 extra cuts this year after John Lewis indicated that further staff reductions will be made.
John Lewis has faced scrutiny after reducing redundancy payments in January, while Waitrose was accused of lowering leaving payments for warehouse workers this week.