B&Q is to increase minimum pay for more than 15,000 employees by 4.1% from April.
The home improvement and garden retailer will increase its UK minimum hourly rate to £12.71 per hour, and its London rate to up to £14.05 per hour. As a result, thousands of employees will receive an extra 50p per hour, which equates to more than £955.50 more a year for a full-time member of staff.
The minimum rate is above the UK government’s national living wage, which is set at £12.21 per hour, and 11p per hour above the real living wage, which is £12.60 per hour.
B&Q will pay the same minimum hourly rate to all employees aged 18 years old and above, including apprentices. As a multigenerational employer, it believes everyone deserves the same pay for the work they do regardless of their age, as opposed to the government’s minimum wages which differ by age.
Graham Bell, chief executive officer at B&Q, said: “We’re delighted to further recognise the exceptional value, commitment, and performance delivered by our employees every day. We pride ourselves on having one of the UK retail sector’s most competitive pay positions. We believe rewarding our employees fairly is a critical part of delivering growth for our business and continually improving the experience we provide for our customers.
“We also remain committed to supporting our employees’ professional development through our training offering, including our apprenticeship scheme which has already been completed by over 2,000 employees. These initiatives all contribute to our ambition to make B&Q a great place to work with a high-performance culture that delivers for our customers.”
B&Q employees are also eligible for family leave, a pension scheme with up to 14% employer contributions, access to discounts with retailers and entertainment brands, wellbeing support, a Colleague Support Fund via a Retail Trust partnership, and a 20% discount on products.
