Lidl UK will increase its wage budget following the decision to pay its employees the living wage – a move that affects over 9,000 workers, or over half its workforce, TheGuardian.com reports.
This makes the supermarket chain the first in Britain to adopt this pay format. The 14-per-cent increase will mean that an additional £9 million must be given to its UK workers, and takes Lidl past the respective recommended pay levels set by the government and the Living Wage Foundation.
Moody’s has said that supermarket chains that pay the living wage will have to shrink staff numbers or increase FMCG prices (or a combination of the two) to atone for the lost revenue.
Ronny Gottschlich, head of Lidl's UK arm, said, “It’s only right that we show our commitment, in the same way that the team commit to the business and our customers each and every day, by ensuring a wage that supports the cost of living. As a result, Lidl employees will be among the best paid in the supermarket sector, and that’s something I feel incredibly proud about.”
The Living Wage Foundation commented, “Lidl’s announcement is a massive breakthrough in the living-wage campaign, and proves that paying staff a real living wage, calculated around the cost of living, is possible on the British high street.
“It sets a challenge to the rest of the UK supermarket sector that has until now claimed that paying staff the living wage was just not possible. Consumers can now genuinely make a living-wage choice at the checkout.”
© 2015 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Peter Donnelly. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
