Lidl has announced a pay increase from March next year that will make it the UK’s highest-paid supermarket. It will raise the minimum wage for white-collar workers outside London to £10.10 per hour, with the rate for more experienced workers at £11.40.
Supermarkets announced that higher prices should be implemented in the capital. He added that the upgrade recognized the “hard work and dedication of colleagues especially. During the last 18 months of the pandemic”. Earlier this year, Morrisons became the first UK supermarket to pay at least £10 an hour.
Starting salaries will rise from £9.50 to £10.10 per hour outside London and from £10.85 to £11.30 under M25 from March 2022, with co-workers up to £11 each, Liddle said. On Tuesday, it came after official data showed employers continued to struggle to take on a role, especially in the hotel and retail sectors.
Job vacancies hit a new record 1.17 million in October – nearly 400,000 more than before the pandemic. Analyzer box from Emma Simpson, the business correspondent. With so many parts of the economy facing labor shortages. Employers need to improve wages and conditions to fill vacancies and retain existing staff.
Where are all the places?
Lidl continues to grow. There are currently more than 850 stores in the UK, and he said he was still on track to increase that to 1,000 by the end of 2023.
He wanted a competitive advantage in hourly wages. And that would put pressure on its bigger rivals, who would have to pay much higher payslips. According to Lidl, the change meant a wage increase of more than 6% for some. More than 21,000 Lidl employees, about 80% of the workforce, will benefit, he added.
By comparison, the UK minimum wage for workers over 23 is expected to rise from £8.91 currently to £9.50 from April 2022. Earlier this week, the real wages of nearly 9,000 employers across the country rose from £9.50 to £9.90 per hour.
As for competitors Lidl, the latest available data shows that Tesco and Aldi are currently paying £9.55 per hour, while Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, and Co-op are paying £9.50 and Asda £9.18.
Lidl said his final salary increase would cost £18m and described it as part of his UK investment plan. Nan Gibson, Head of Human Resources at Lidl, told the: “We don’t expect to pass this on to customers in the form of a price increase.”
Lidl’s HR manager Nan Gibson says it’s “challenging” to recruit employees at the moment. Right now, it’s “tough” to hire people, he said, adding, “We compete with all other retailers and even with other industries for talent.”
Gibson said Lidl’s pay increase should retain existing staff “as much as possible” and attract new hires. The supermarket has also reiterated its intention to have 1,000 stores in the UK by the end of 2023.