Sainsbury’s to pay store

Today it announced plans to increase its standard rate of pay to £7.36 per hour – an inflation-busting 4% raise that takes its workers above the Government-mandated “national living wage” of £7.20 that will come into force next April.

Sainsbury’s was one of a string of retailers to face questions at annual shareholder meetings about low staff pay from campaigners at Share Action and Citizens UK.

In June Sainsbury’s posted a sixth straight quarter of falling underlying sales but expressed confidence that its strategy was working.

Sainsbury’s said its pay increase would apply across the board, meaning 40,000 employees below the living wage age threshold would be among those to benefit.

The increase puts wages at Sainsbury’s slight ahead of the median paid to workers in the retail industry, which the British Retail Consortium puts at £7.30 an hour.

Sainsbury’s chief executive Mike Coupe said he wanted to reward staff for their continued hard work, and stressed that the supermarket giant can afford the wage increase. The rate will rise to more than 9 pounds by 2020, Osborne said. ‘We know what a difference they make to our customers each and every day and we’re totally committed to rewarding them well for the great service they provide’.

Moreover, while the biggest issue for supermarkets might be keeping up with the Joneses on price, Sainsbury’s survival strategy partly rests on making it a pleasant place to shop.

After announcing the pay rise on Wednesday, he said: “I’ve talked to thousands of colleagues over the past year and they tell me how much they value their package of benefits and the flexibility that we can offer as an employer, as well as hourly pay that has always been well over the minimum wage”.