Britain's second largest supermarket has announced plans to increase pay for 135,000 workers this month Last week, Sainsbury’s announced a rise for thousands of UK shopfloor staff, thereby increasing their pay to £8 an hour – the payrise is to include workers below the age of 25.
The increase which will come into effect on August 27 comes alongside a shared bonus across the group of £78 million this year.
However, the grocer has said that “a small number” of staff who are on a different pay structure “for historical reasons” would not be eligible for the rise. A spokesperson for Sainsbury’s has said there are plans to talk to these workers separately.
Sainsbury’s chief executive, Mike Coupe, said: “We’re pleased to announce a 4.4% pay increase for colleagues working in Sainsbury’s stores across the country.
“This is the third successive year that we have awarded eligible store colleagues a pay rise of four per cent or more and recognises their hard work and dedication.
“We know what a difference this makes to our customers and we’re committed to rewarding them well for the great service they provide.”
The payrise announcement comes just days after proposed cuts to 1,000 head office workers emerged as part of a plan to save the business £500million during 2017. The grocery giant employs over 3,000 staff outside its stores and has hired consultancy firm McKinsey to draw up a staff reduction plan that will affect its office workers in Walsgrave, Edinburgh, Holborn and Manchester – although the plans are yet to be confirmed.
A Sainsbury’s spokesman said: “We do not comment on speculation and would always make any announcement around jobs to our colleagues first.”
Earlier in 2017, Aldi became the first supermarket to pay all staff above the voluntary living wage. Aldi shop workers are now earning £8.53 an hour – while its biggest competitor, Lidl, pays £8.45 an hour.
Across the big six supermarkets, Sainsbury’s is the biggest payer, although, Tesco has pledged to hike pay for its shopfloor staff by 10.5% over the next two years, offering workers £8.42 an hour by November 2018.
Morrisons currently pays sales assistants £7.24 per hour and Asda pays shop floor assistants £7.23 per hour.
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