High street banking giant HSBC has announced it will be giving some staff members £1,500 each to help ease the pressure as bills continue to rise. Earlier today Brits were warned that bills could hit highs of £3,615 this winter, according to one energy expert.
Supermarket prices are also increasing at a sharp rate. Some shoppers are now struggling so much, they're being forced to put back essential items when they hit a certain total at the checkout.
With the cost of living crisis only set to worsen, HSBC has made an announcement that will come as a sigh of relief to many of its staff. Following behind Lloyds and Barclays, the leading bank has announced a £1,500 one-off payment for some of its workforce this month. This includes junior customer-facing employees and contact centre staff, following discussions with the trade union, Unite.
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The cost of living payment comes at a time when bills are skyrocketing for UK households. Inflation has hit its highest level in 40 years, hitting 9.4% and is expected to reach 11% later this year.
Welcoming HSBC’s move, the employee union Unite added: "The union will continue to campaign to ensure all staff receive a fully-consolidated pay increase to ensure pay rates keep up with living costs."
The longer-term impact of inflation for all staff will be considered in the regular annual pay review, the bank said. During the last financial year, HSBC reported better-than-expected profits as rising interest rates lifted its revenues.
HSBC's shares rose 6% in early London trade this morning, the highest since the end of June. As a result, the bank increased its staff bonus pool to £2.6bn this year owing to its strong financial performance and its need to compete for workers in an “extraordinarily competitive labour market”, it said.
HSBC is not alone in doing this. Lloyds Bank is also giving the majority of employees a financial boost of £1,000 in August, says the Mirror.
The payment will not be made to senior management or executives and will cover 64,182 employees, or around 99.5% of the firm's staff. Similarly, the banking giant Barclays has offered 35,000 staff a £1,200 pay raise to help with the cost-of-living crisis, bringing forward an annual pay review that would have taken place in March 2023.
Other businesses offering bonuses for staff include British Airways, Virgin Money, Rolls Royce, Bloomsbury, Morrisons and EasyJet, among others. A study conducted by advisory firm BDO has also found that medium-sized businesses are following in the footsteps of these large companies.
More than half of the businesses interviewed said they are raising pay by between 4% and 8% with more than a quarter increasing pay by 9% or more to compensate for rising costs.
Other support includes allowing more flexible working-from-home policies to reduce travel costs, childcare support benefits, free meals at work, or shopping vouchers.
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