Sainsbury’s rewards staff for ‘extraordinary work’ with pay rise

In recognition of the “extraordinary work” its employees do for customers, Sainsbury’s is rewarding all of its workforce with a pay rise.

The supermarket chain has shared that it will be increasing its basic hourly rate of pay for all Sainsbury’s and Argos store colleagues from £9.50 to £10 an hour, which will come into effect from 6th March.

For those based in inner London, pay will rise from £10.10 to £11.05 an hour, while those in outer London will now receive £10.50.

Pay for drivers is also increasing, as groceries online drivers will now take home £11.50 per hour, with a basic rate of £10 per hour plus an extra £1.50 per hour.

In addition, Argos Fast Track Delivery Drivers will receive £11 per hour based on a base rate of £10 per hour plus an extra £1, up from 75p.

Sainsbury’s noted in a release that while online deliveries remain high, the increase in pay will help the business retain and recruit the top talent it needs.

The employer’s new rates of pay exceed the National Living Wage and National Real Living Wage, plus it also represents a £100m investment from Sainsbury’s in its store colleagues.

For example, this year’s 5.3% increase means that the business’ hourly colleague pay has increased by 25% over the past five years.

Increase in rewards

Currently, all Sainsbury’s, Argos and Habitat workers receive a 10% discount on their shopping at all three brands. But at certain times during the year the colleague discount in Sainsbury’s increased to 15%, saving a typical store colleague around £100 a year.

Now the supermarket has shared that this reward will expand to occur every pay day for five days to help workers plan their budgets and their shopping better.

‘Significant investment’

Commenting on the move to reward staff, Simon Roberts, chief executive officer (CEO) at Sainsbury’s, shared that the business wanted to show how much it valued its workers with this “significant investment”.

“To kick off the New Year, I am pleased that one of the first things we are doing is investing in our colleagues and lifting our basic hourly rate of pay to £10. We are making this significant investment to show our colleagues how much we value the brilliant job they do for our customers every day,” he explained.

“It also reflects the significant progress we are making against our plan and to save money we can invest in lower prices, offer fantastic colleague service and make shopping convenient for customers.”

Roberts added that Sainsbury’s has listened to its workers and as such is enhancing the colleague discount scheme to “help them plan their grocery spend and manage their shopping budgets better, which could save colleagues hundreds of pounds a year”.

To keep up with the latest employee rewards news, sign up to the weekly Reward Strategy newsletter here.