We’re celebrating Living Wage Week 2019
Today marks the beginning of Living Wage Week 2019, during which the rates for this year are announced.
And as a proud Living Wage employer, we wanted to take a moment to appreciate the importance of the initiative, started by Citizens UK in East London back in 2001 and now a 5,000 strong movement of independent businesses, organisations and citizens who rightly believe that hard work deserves fair pay.
Calculated according to the true costs of living, the Real Living Wage applies to those aged 18 and over (rather than the National Living Wage’s starting age of 25) and has been proven to give employees better health, wellbeing and quality of life, plus increased productivity.
The Living Wage Foundation have released a host of interesting data around the subject, reporting that 93% of university graduates want to work for a Living Wage employer, and 86% of Living Wage employers reported an increase in staff motivation since accrediting.
Employers choose to pay the Real Living Wage on a voluntary basis – setting an ethical benchmark for responsible pay to make sure staff have enough to live on – and Erudus are proud to be among them.
Chief Operating Officer Jon Shayler says; “Becoming a Living Wage employer was an easy decision – it allows us to show the world that we are a company that cares about our employees’ health and wellbeing, and their general quality of life.”
Here in the Northeast, nearly a quarter of all jobs pay less than the Real Living Wage, which is why it was especially important to us, when we relocated to Newcastle in March 2019 that we committed to becoming a Living Wage employer.
So here’s to working hard, and paying hard…
