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Sainsbury’s has announced it is increasing the pay for its frontline employees this month, and is awarding them a third one-off payment in “special recognition of their incredible efforts to help to feed the nation through the pandemic”.
From March onwards, the hourly rate of pay for Sainsbury’s and Argos store employees will increase to £9.50. This marks an increase from £9.30 for a Sainsbury’s colleague and £9.00 for an Argos colleague.
In addition, pay for colleagues working in Zones 1 and 2 of Central London will rise from £9.90 to £10.10. The rise means the retailer has increased pay for Sainsbury’s store colleagues by 24% over the last five years.
The addition of a third special recognition payment is also a show of “appreciation of their continued commitment to delivering outstanding service”, according to the group.
The payment, which is the biggest one to date, will be made to colleagues working in stores, as well as logistics and customer Careline teams in May. It will be based on 3% of a colleague’s annual pay, meaning that a full-time colleague will receive over £530 extra.
Through both the three special recognition payments and pay rises, Sainsbury’s is rewarding frontline colleagues with over £100m in total.
The “significant” investment comes after the group reported that after forgoing business rates relief of £410m, the business expects to report at least £330m underlying profit before tax in the financial year to March 2021, against the £586m profit made in the financial year to March 2020.
Clodagh Moriarty, Retail and Digital director at Sainsbury’s said: “In the last 12 months our frontline colleagues have shown outstanding commitment to our customers. In recognition of everything they have achieved, we are giving them a pay rise, plus an additional one-off payment.
“I feel so proud and humbled by the dedication our colleagues have shown day in, day out and would like to thank everyone for the part they have played in helping to feed the nation throughout an extraordinary year.”
