Sainsbury’s injects £200m for staff pay as bumper Christmas helps stave off Lidl and Aldi threats
Some 120,000 employees at Sainsbury’s and Argos are set to have their hourly wage increase, as the supermarket injects £200m into improving pay.
Staff at the ‘Big Four’ grocer will now be handed £12 per hour, in line with the Real Living Wage. For workers in London this will leap to £13.15.
Sainsbury’s has increased pay by 50 per cent since 2018 and by nine per cent in the last year. Employees are expected to see the increase come March.
Simon Roberts, chief executive of Sainsbury’s, said that for a full time colleague, this is an extra £1,910 a year.
“This increase is well ahead of inflation and the government’s 2024 national living wage of £11.44,” he said.
“We continue to lead our industry in the level of reward and benefits we provide for our people and this remains a clear priority for us at Sainsbury’s.”
“We believe well rewarded, engaged colleagues deliver the best service and attracting and retaining the best talent will be crucial to our success in delivering the next phase of our business strategy,” he added.
Sainsbury’s said the investment of £200m brings the three year total investment in colleague pay to over £500m.
In recent years the British retailer has had to compete with German discounters Lidl and Aldi, who are amongst the highest payers for supermarket roles.
Inflation led prices rises also weakened consumer confidence in the brand as shoppers feared big players in the grocery space were not passing cost cuts on to customers.
However, Sainsbury’s was one of the big winners over the Christmas period with the company’s market share hitting 15 per cent over the festive period.