M&S has announced its plans to invest £15 million into a support package for its front-line colleagues during the cost-of-living crisis.
The package, which includes an hourly pay increase to £10.20 and a one-off payment of £250 to 4,500 of its salaried colleagues at pre-management level at its stores and support centres, comes as the retailer looks to tackle rising cost concerns.
Set to roll out to over 40,000 colleagues from 1 October, the package will also provide M&S colleagues with free every-day food items and sanitary products across all sites and stores, as well as a free meal per shift to colleagues at its Castle Donington distribution centre.
Following listening schemes which saw colleage representatives from its Business Involvement Group helping to update the benefits given to M&S employees, financial planning workshops with free tools and information have been added to the package.
Free health and wellbeing benefits for colleagues and their families such as a virtual GP service, free eye tests, health screening and mental wellbeing checks, as well as support from M&S’ nutritionist and 20% off the retailer’s food are also available to all M&S employees.
“Whether you’re running a home or running a business, everyone across the country is feeling the pressure of rising costs,” M&S chief executive Stuart Machin said.
“We want to do what can to help ease some of that strain; that’s why we have invested in price to deliver better value for our customers and, why we are investing in our colleague base pay for the second time this year. Our colleagues are our biggest asset, and we want to ensure they are fully supported and rewarded for the remarkable contribution they make to M&S.”
National Business Involvement Group chair, Graham Bennett added: “Cost of living is the most talked about issue amongst our colleagues and we very much welcome the package of support from M&S.
“We are pleased our leadership team has listened to colleagues and responded, and we will continue to work closely with them as we head into what is the busiest time of year for retail.”
