A worker restocks empty shelves of lettuce and salad leaves inside a Sainsbury’s supermarket in London
(Picture: AFP via Getty Images)Sainsbury’s is raising wages for the second time in less than six months after pressure from investors over the cost of living.
The supermarket said it will pay the “Real Living Wage” for all staff, making it the first major supermarket to do so.
The Real Living Wage is a voluntary minimum wage for anyone over 18 which aims to reflect the real costs of living.
From 1 May, pay for Sainsbury’s workers in outer London will rise from £10.50 an hour to £11.05 an hour - the Real Living Wage level for London.
Simon Roberts, CEO of Sainsbury’s, said the supermarket wanted to help its workers as the “cost of living crisis intensifies”.
“We know times are tough for everyone,” he added.
The news came as the supermarket announced it would cut 300 roles across its food commercial, finance operations and HR departments, outsourcing the jobs instead.
The plans affect staff at its central offices in Manchester, Holborn in London and Ansty in Warwickshire.
Wage increases follow pressure from campaign group ShareAction. Last week the group announced plans to bring a vote on introducing the living wage at Sainsbury’s AGM in July.
“Despite official recognition of their status as key workers during the pandemic, supermarket workers continue to be one of the largest groups of low paid workers in the UK,” ShareAction said.
Investors including Legal and General and pensions scheme Nest backed the motion.
Today’s decision markets the second pay increase in just three months at Sainsbury’s. The supermarket increased pay for all its UK employees to £10 an hour in January.
A number of other large businesses have upped employee remuneration in recent weeks and months as inflation soars.
Tesco and BT announced wage hikes yesterday and Aldi and Lidl have already increased wages to at least £10 an hour as they try to hang on to staff in a tight jobs market with soaring inflation, and attract new employees.
Not everyone is happy with the increases: CWU, a union that represents some BT staff, said it planned to strike over what it called an “insulting” £1,500 pay offer for staff. BT said it is the largest single pay hike in 20 years.
Since 2017, Sainsbury’s has increased employee pay by 25%, while pay for Argos employees has increased by 39%.
Sainsbury’s is the second largest UK grocery chain with 16.5% of the market. It operates more than 600 supermarkets, 800 convenience stores and directly employs 189,000 workers.
