Sainsbury’s is investing £200m to offer what boss Simon Roberts says is an “industry leading” pay increase with hourly rates jumping 9.1% to £12 per hour and £13.15 in London.
The change, which will impact 120,000 hourly paid employees, will come into play from March and marks the supermarket giant’s single biggest ever investment into colleague pay.
Since 2018, Sainsbury’s has increased pay by 50% and by 9% in the past year in line with the Real Living Wage.
Employees will receive an additional £1,910 a year nationally and £2,290 a year in London, making it the largest supermarket to pay colleagues the new Real Living Wage nationally and the London Living Wage.
Subscribe to Grocery Gazette for free
Sign up here to get the latest grocery and food news each morning
With the £200m investment, this brings Sainsbury’s three year total investment into colleague pay to over £500m.
Sainsbury’s chief executive Simon Roberts said: “Our colleagues do a brilliant job delivering for our customers every day and at the same time they are continuing to face the rising costs of living.
“So, in addition to investing to keep our prices low for customers, I’m delighted to confirm an industry leading pay increase again this year for all our hourly paid colleagues.”
As well as increasing pay, Sainsbury’s has provided colleagues with free food during shifts and increased the staff discount to 15% every Friday and Saturday over recent years.
Roberts added: “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.”
This follows a similar move by Aldi in December to increase employee rates, paying all store and warehouse colleagues a minimum of £12 an hour nationally.
