The supermarket chains are continuing to ensure their store staff are rewarded for their hard work during the pandemic.
Lidl announced yesterday that its plans to increase entry-level pay from £9.30 to £9.50 per hour outside of London and £10.75 to £10.85 within the M25, going up to £11.80, depending on an employee’s location and length of service.
Lidl said the move will benefit over 20,000 employees and means that staff will be paid a minimum of 78p more than the current government national minimum wage of £8.72 per hour (for over 25s) outside of the M25 and £2.13 within the M25.
Christian Härtnagel, Chief Executive at Lidl GB, said: “It is only right that we increase the income for our colleagues who are the backbone of our business. This is about recognising their hard work and dedication in keeping the nation fed during a year like no other. They have served our customers through extremely challenging times and we will always be there to support them in return.”
Meanwhile, Tesco has committed to paying the staff in its stores, warehouses and its customer service centres a 10% bonus for hours worked over Christmas and New Year.
The grocer said hourly-paid staff would receive the bonus for all hours worked between 13 December and 9 January, while frontline managers will get 10% of their salary for weeks worked.
Tesco offered a similar bonus to staff in the early stages of the pandemic.
“The hard work, dedication and resilience that colleagues have shown over the last few months has been remarkable,” said Jason Tarry, Tesco UK & ROI CEO.
“This year has proven challenging and uncertain for so many of us and this bonus is a way of saying thank you for the incredible response of our colleagues to these challenges.”
NAM Implications:
- A no-brainer, and an inevitable consequence of lockdown.
- And the cost being minuscule compared with inevitable low-wage opportunism that will play out in other channels.
