6 – 12 November is National Living Wage week, hoping to raise awareness of the movement, which encourages businesses to pay a voluntary rate of pay, based on the cost of living – which goes above & beyond the government minimum.
Dunster Farm were accredited as Living Wage employers in 2022, we’ve also committed to paying the real Living Wage increased rate, which rises to £12 an hour in the coming months.
Greater Manchester has a set goal of becoming the first city-region to pay all employees a real living wage, and we’re doing our bit to fly the flag for the campaign – encouraging other businesses to take up the mantle.
There’s plenty of positives to becoming accredited including better recruitment, boosting productivity & positive PR.
Our Managing Director Hannah Barlow, talks about our reasons for joining the initiative, and the impact we’ve seen so far…
“We know the past few years have been a tumultuous time for families, with a cost of living & energy crisis hitting households hard.
“Over the past 60 years, Dunsters Farm has had a strong reputation for looking after our people, but in light of the financial pressures we are seeing for households right now, we knew we wanted to do more. The Real Living Wage was just one of the ways we could help.
“Unlike the minimum wage, The Real Living Wage is independently calculated and reflects the true cost of living for households. It was something we knew was essential for staff wellbeing, and despite the associated costs, we simply had to commit to – as responsible employers.
“We’ve been building a host of additional benefits for our staff team over the past couple of years such as a Healthshield cash plan, flexible working options and new wellbeing initiatives such as cycle to work scheme, Able Futures mental health support, and hardship loans for those staff that need them.
“Alongside the Real Living Wage, these benefits mean we can offer new starters an attractive & diverse package & has made recruitment much easier. Over the past 12 months, hiring 53 new staff to our team.
“We know there are still a vast number of roles in our region not paying the real living wage, and equally we understand the pressures being put on small businesses like ours. It’s a difficult time to balance payroll budgets.
“Because of this, we’re actively trying to tell our story. Promoting the positive impact, we’ve seen since becoming real living wage employers, whether that be in retention, recruitment or staff wellbeing. Not only is it a good thing to do… it also makes great business sense.”
