Marks & Spencer announces a pay raise for thousands of employees, mirroring national wage increases amidst rising business costs.
Lacey Kaelani
retail workers a 5% pay bump next month.
UK's living wage increases, effective April 1.
has invested £300 million in pay over the past three years.
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Think pay hikes are just for head honchos? Think again. Retail colossus Marks & Spencer (M&S) has announced it's giving 50,000 of its store workers a nifty 5% pay raise next month. As the national minimum wage winds upward, M&S joins the crowd of retailers doing a little wage jig to match. Let's dive into the numbers, the retail trends, and the not-so-rosy cost challenges on the horizon.
Here’s the skinny: Starting next month, a bunch of M&S worker bees in London and beyond are buzzing with news of extra quid in their pockets. Customer assistants will see their hourly pay notch up to £12.60 from £12 — just over the new UK living wage of £12.21. Meanwhile, London's frontline workers will jump to £13.85 an hour from their pre-hike £13.15.
But that's not all, folks! Team support managers across the board are also getting a raise, with those in London fetching up to £14.90 an hour, up from £14.20. M&S isn't alone in this raise, raise, raise game—Sainsbury's and Lidl upped the ante earlier this year too.
This pay raise comes against a backdrop of soaring costs for M&S. Company chief Stuart Machin has aired some grievances about looming “significant cost headwinds,” with notable policies from October's budget tour kicking in. From swelling national insurance contributions set to fund public services (hello, NHS), to the balmy breeze of a minimum wage hike, M&S projects facing an additional £120 million in costs. Yikes.
Yet Machin is adamant that these pressures shouldn't scorch the pay prospects of their hourly workers. This new raise follows a commitment to invest nearly £300 million in their wages over the past three years, well ahead of the inflation curve. So while the company's bottom line might feel the crunch, it's soldiering on with investments in its workforce.
Riding out fiscal challenges with a steadfast focus on their team, Marks & Spencer demonstrates a commitment that competitors might do well to note. Amidst the rising tides of operational costs, internal culture and compensation remain steadfast pillars in the retail arena.
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