This week it’s living wage week!
You may have heard the news this morning that the real living wage has risen to £9 per hour . At Holy Brook Associates, we are really proud that we are a living wage employer and wanted to share our reasons why we want to promote and encourage more businesses to be living wage employers too!
What do the UK wage rates mean?
In the UK, there is the minimum wage, national living wage and real living wage, but what is the difference between them?
The minimum and national living wage are statutory government minimums for under 25’s and over 25’s retrospectively. However, the real living wage is a rate based on what people need to earn to be able to live on and is completely voluntary.
You can find the new rates here.
Why pay Real Living Wage?
Paying the living wage benefits business as well as employees.
Improve the reputation of your business
- We have always been a living wage employer but deciding to bet accredited for this was a way to demonstrate to outsiders how treat our employees
- Being able to highlight the fact that you value the hard work of your employees gives key examples of how you treat your employees, gives reason to why other businesses should undertake work with you and an insight into your culture.
Increase motivation and retention rates for employees
- Living wage is all about paying your employees an honest days work. We believed it was not reasonable for us to employ people who are not able to pay bills etc. so we aim to take the ease of money worries so they can enjoy working for us!
Differentiate yourself from others in your industry
- Being a small business in a world full of many other businesses, it can be hard to promote and market your business. Give your clients another reason to keep working/ or start working with you. We really love the fact that we work with other businesses that are living wage employers.
Improve relations between managers and staff
- This is only one way out of many that you could do this, for example team-building days.
If you’re a living wage employer, we’d love to hear from you! Let us know why you decided to become a real living wage employer below.