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Real Living Wage Goes Up By 10%
Over 460,000 Living Wage workers are set for a pay boost as 14,000 Living Wage employers are signed up to pay new rates – a 10% increase in the Real...
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A Grand Gesture – Listers Pays the Price Of Cost Of Living Crisis
Listers is giving every employee in the company a ‘Cost of Living Allowance’ of £1,000 over the next 12 months to help them cope with inflation and spiralling energy costs.
The window and door manufacturer has also committed to pay the Real Living Wage as a minimum to new employees in its factory and offices. The Real Living Wage is determined by the Living Wage Foundation and should not be confused with the government’s living wage – the Foundation’s assessment is based on quantitative research that establishes what someone could just about cope with earning to survive whereas the government’s figures are not.
At £9.90 per hour outside London, the Real Living Wage is 40p per hour more than the legal requirement of £9.50 per hour.
Staff retention
These measures were introduced by Listers to tackle the twin problems of inflation and employee retention, especially as the company is experiencing increased demand for its products.
“May was our best month on record. However, it has become much harder to recruit and retain staff to support our growth, something which the whole country is experiencing.”
– Roy Frost
Managing director, Listers
Investment
“We are also acutely aware of the Cost of Living crisis: - energy bills are soaring, supermarket shopping baskets are up and the cost of fuel at the pumps is insane,” continues Listers’ Frost. “We simply do not want to see anyone in our company in financial hardship. Therefore, from the end of June, every employee in our group will receive a Cost of Living Allowance of £1,000 over the next 12 months, on top of the guaranteed minimum of £9.90 per hour.”
This decision is expected to cost Listers more than £400,000, which is the single biggest investment since the new owners bought the business in 2017.
“We cannot afford to jeopardise our service levels by losing our good people,” adds Frost.
Retention
Listers sells its windows and doors into new build developments and to homeowners via a network of installation companies. Frost attributes the success of the business in part to the knowledge, experience and the culture within the workforce, which he is committed to protecting. He says: “Our employee retention rate over the last five years has been great – many of our staff have been with us for decades. In fact, only in May we presented 80 Long Service Awards to our staff throughout the group. They are the people that make our company what it is today and in turn look after our great customers.”
Futures
In a letter to employees, outlining the new payment structure, Frost wrote: ‘We proudly pay the ‘Real Living Wage’ as a minimum to new employees on our shopfloor and offices. We work hard to train and upskill you so you can rise through the pay scales gathering more skills and experience along the way and we have plans to do more of this in the future’.
Picture: Listers is paying the Real Living Wage and awarding every employee £1,000 over the next 12 months to help them cope with the cost of living crisis.
Article written by Cathryn Ellis
16th June 2022