MORE than 200 IKEA Belfast employees are to benefit from the rise in the real Living Wage rate.
Some 240 staff in the Holywood Exchange store will benefit from the raised UK rate, outside of London, from £8.25 to £8.45 per hour. This is 17 per cent higher than the government minimum wage for over 25s, which is £7.20 per hour.
Earlier this year, IKEA UK & Ireland announced it would introduce a Living Wage — as defined by the Living Wage Foundation — for all of its co-workers. The accredited Living Wage employer also became a Principal Partner to the Living Wage Foundation.
It was part of a wider transformation of basic co-worker conditions as IKEA looks to ensure that co-workers have the right level of pay, the right contract and an appropriate schedule. As part of this transformation, IKEA also implemented a proportionate pay increase for team leaders as well as committing to giving all customer-facing co-workers one weekend off in four.
HR Manager at IKEA Belfast, Bob van Geldere said: “Since introducing the Living Wage rate to our co-workers in April, we have committed to transforming our basic co-worker living conditions.
“For example, co-workers have told us the introduction of the Living Wage has allowed them to enjoy more days out together with their family, support towards childcare costs and help them live just that little more comfortably.
“At IKEA this investment comes very much from our values which are at the heart of the business, it’s important to us that we can support our co-workers to have a better everyday life.
“In the past six months, we have employed a further 20 co-workers in jobs and will recruit a further 20 before the end of the year, these roles span from IKEA Food to customer service, marketing roles and logistics.”
Thanking IKEA for their commitment to the initiative Living Wage Foundation Director, Katherine Chapman commented: “It is down to the leadership of Living Wage businesses like IKEA that more workers than ever before are earning a real Living Wage.
“We want to celebrate those organisations making such a difference to families and communities across the UK and which have helped the Living Wage movement grow to nearly 3000 businesses.”