The National Living Wage (NLA) of £7.20 per hour kicks in today for workers aged 25 and over who are not in the first year of an apprenticeship.
Many employers and recruiters are still unsure of the financial ramifications of the 50 pence per hour increase from the National Minimum Wage.
At the same time, employers such as retailer Oliver Bonas have welcomed the potential rise in the standard of living for UK workers. “We believe that there is a direct correlation between paying people what they should be able to afford to live – and their performance and job satisfaction at work,” said Anna Parfitt, head of HR at Oliver Bonas, speaking exclusively to Recruiter.
Oliver Bonas last year became the UK’s first high street retailer to be accredited by the Living Wage Foundation, which means that the company pays all their employees a higher rate than the government minimum, regardless of their age. “Our commitment as a Living Wage Employer has already reaped rewards, with a higher response to recruitment and a lower employee turnover,” Parfitt said.
In response to the NLA, clients of multi-sector recruiter Barker Ross are looking at implementing kaizen projects in the manufacturing environment to improve productivity, reduce wastage and measure the impact of training “to enable us to assist in reducing the overall cost per unit”, chief executive Paul Ross told Recruiter.
Kaizen is a Japanese business concept that translates roughly as ‘change through continuous improvement’.
“By measuring the impact of the operations, we can start to calculate the true cost of labour and add value to our clients,” Ross said. “[We] firmly believe that this is a positive approach to the ever-increasing costs for manufacturing wages.”
Several employers and recruiters operating in high-volume sectors contacted by Recruiter said it was too soon to fully understand the impact of the NLA
Source: Recruiter
