Living Wage Week: The importance of treating our essential workers with dignity and respect

At a time when the economy and businesses are under increased strain, it may seem odd to talk about pay rises. Yet supporting the lowest paid – many of whom have kept the country going over the past few months – is critical to the future sustainability and recovery of businesses.

This week (9-13 November) marks Living Wage Week. This annual event sees the latest Living Wage rates announced – rates that are calculated on the real cost of living and are significantly higher than the government’s own ‘National Living Wage’.

The latest research from the Living Wage Foundation, using published data from the Office for National Statistics’ Annual Survey for Hours and Earnings, revealed that 20.3% of employee jobs in the UK (5.5 million jobs) were paid below the Living Wage in April 2020 – a figure that is broadly unchanged from 2019.

Women and those in part-time roles were more likely to be paid below the Living Wage, while the highest rates of jobs paid below the Living Wage were in elementary administration and service occupations; sales occupations; and leisure, travel and related personal service occupations.

Is now the right time to talk about pay rises?

Laura Gardiner, Living Wage Foundation director, tackled the issue of whether employers should be increasing pay at the moment during the launch event of this year’s Living Wage week.

“Some might argue that this is no time to be talking about raising pay. But I disagree for two reasons: first the fact that our network of employers has continue to grow during the pandemic shows that the Living Wage is not just a cost for business in the here and now. Living Wage employers report a range of benefits, from brand boosts to staff retention, to greater attractiveness to investors. Committing to the Living Wage is fundamentally an investment in the kind of sustainable business models that will help firms to rebuild after this crisis.

“But more importantly, just because times are tough, does not mean that we can lose sight of the importance of pay that is matched to what it costs to live,” she said.

Gardiner added that many key workers, including cleaners, care workers, security staff and transport workers have kept parts of the economy going in recent months, with many putting their own health at risk in the process.

“In my view, there has never been a more important time to think seriously about how we treat our essential workers with dignity and respect,” she concluded.

Using the Living Wage to recognise and reward employees

Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust gained its Living Wage Employer accreditation in September, and was the 2,000th public sector organisation to achieve this. Leslie Watts, chief executive at the Trust, explains why paying the real Living Wage was so important.

“Walking around our hospital every day I see our staff working very hard. They’re cheerful, they’re respectful, they’re professional, even during the most difficult circumstances. That’s why I believe the least we should and could do is to adopt the London Living Wage. It supports our strategic objective of taking care of our staff, putting patients first and being an employer of choice.

“The accreditation is really important for the principal and the value of treating patients and staff fairly, it is one of the most important things that we could and should do and that’s why we adopted the accreditation,” she says.

James Hennebry, founder of Rosslyn Coffee, an independent coffee shop based in the City, added that they took on the accreditation for ethical and commercial reasons.

“It comes down to the team that we have and at the core of that is paying them a wage that allows them to live in the city that they serve so well.

“In terms of ethics – people talk about building cultures and creating cultures, and I don’t think it’s an equation that you can come up with. It’s everything that you do. If we weren’t to pay our team a Living Wage it would undermine everything that we say [about our ethos], about the way I am,” he explains.

By paying their team the Living Wage Hennebry believes that it shows their respect for them and that they appreciate the great job that they do.

“Without doubt it [paying the Living Wage] has helped the commercial success of the business as well. If we didn’t pay the Living Wage we would not be able to attract the standard of employee that we have. We wouldn’t be able to maintain the level of service that we provide, which means we wouldn’t be as busy and that would ultimately affect the bottom line.”

Rebuilding for the future

As thoughts turn to 2021 and how businesses may recover from the pandemic, the need for a workforce that is appreciated, motivated and above all, able to live comfortably, will pay dividends to those employers who put their people first.

As Gardiner notes, those employers who have provided their workers with security and stability over the past few months “are the employers that will allow us to recover and rebuild from this crisis”.

The author is Dawn Lewis, content editor at REBA.

More than 250,000 people working for almost 7,000 real Living Wage Employers throughout the country are set for a vital pay boost as the new Living Wage rates rise to £9.50 across the UK (20p increase), and £10.85 in London (10p increase). The UK rate is 78p per hour more than the government minimum wage (for over 25s) and the London Living Wage is £2.13 per hour higher.