Why we pay all our staff the living wage
If there’s one statistic you need to know about why we are a living wage employer, it’s this one: since we were accredited as a living wage employer in April 2013, our staff retention rate has been 90%.
We employ 378 staff and they are all paid the living wage or above. Our lowest-paid employees receive £7.98 an hour – 14p above the living wage rate. We believed in paying a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work even before becoming a living wage employer, so getting accreditation was about confirming that approach and committing to it, even in the more challenging financial times that may lie ahead.
We can see from the Guardian Housing Network survey that some housing associations are paying the living wage but not as an accredited employer. To them, we’d say why not become an accredited employer and demonstrate that commitment? Increasing the number of living wage employers can only help to show others that it is possible to be commercially successful, responsible and grow momentum.
Living wage in the social housing sector: what housing associations told us
Read more
Salary is only part of the picture, but it is an important place to start. At a time when there have been increasing cost pressures on services such as care, Yarlington has resisted the cost benefits of paying only the national minimum wage of £6.50 an hour and joining the “race to the bottom”. For us, this is about investing in our staff.
Being an average employer is not enough anymore. Expectations are higher; employees are looking for an organisation willing to do more than the minimum and that includes how it approaches remuneration. While there are some roles in the housing sector that tend to lower salaries due to cost pressures, reduced subsidies and market forces, we believe it’s important to pay everyone a wage on which they can realistically live.Becoming a living wage employer was not only an ethical decision but a commercial one, not just supporting our own goals, but also creating a momentum in the wider community – as a living wage employer, we endeavour to ensure our suppliers and partners also pay the living wage.Sign up for your free Guardian Housing network newsletter with news and analysis sent direct to you every Friday. Follow us:@GuardianHousing