Cumbria-based Furness Building Society has received living hours employer accreditation as part of its aim to demonstrate fair work practices for its employees.
The accreditation reflects the building society’s commitment to provide all of its employees with a guaranteed minimum of 16 hours of work per week, unless they request otherwise. Staff will now receive a contract reflecting their actual hours worked, as per the living hours standard.
The building society must also provide a minimum of four weeks’ notice for every shift and guarantee payment if shifts are cancelled within this period. In addition, living hours accreditation requires employers to pay all employees over the age of 18 the real living wage rate of £13.15 per hour if they are based in London and £12 per hour for those across the rest of the UK.
The living hours scheme, which was launched by the Living Wage Foundation, tackles insecure work and allows employers to take further steps to protect staff from the cost-of-living crisis.
Chris Harrison, chief executive at Furness Building Society, said: “Over the past 18 months, we’ve made excellent progress in our commitment to delivering diversity, inclusivity and equality across the workforce. Our most recent pledge to provide our employees with the security and stability of working hours that meet their everyday needs was a natural next step following our measures that ensure all team members earn a wage which is enough to live on. To become the first employer in Cumbria to have our efforts formally accredited is testament to the team’s determination to raise the bar as an employer of choice.”
Furness Building Society is also a real living wage employer, has been named a disability confident employer by the Department for Work and Pensions, and joined the HM Treasury’s Women in Finance Charter.
It offers its staff hybrid working, a minimum of 25 days of annual leave, as well as bank holidays, a day off for birthdays, a Christmas shopping day and a moving house day, a competitive pension with an up to 10% employer contribution, and a comprehensive benefits package.
