M&S unveils £15m support package for staff

Marks and Spencers has unveiled a new £15m support package to support its front-line employees during the cost-of-living crisis. This comes alongside an additional Autumn pay review, while the group also extends its wellbeing benefits for employees. According to M&S, from 1 October over 40,000 of its colleagues will get an hourly pay increase to a minimum of £10.20, which follows the initial pay increase to £10 from £9.50 in April this year. This decision is said to maintain the retailer ahead of national and real living wage expectations and represents an annual uplift of 7.4%, meaning a full-time customer assistant will earn over £100 more each month compared to October 2021. In addition, the retailer will also provide its 4,500 salaried staff at pre-management levels in its stores and support centres with a one-off £250 voucher to spend at M&S. Base pay for employees is reportedly supplemented by a 20% M&S discount, its “generous” pension commitment, and an employee share save scheme. It is reported that M&S has used its colleague listening schemes, Straight to Stuart, as well as feedback from colleague representatives in its Business Involvement Group (BIG) to shape the update to benefits to “ensure it reflects the needs of colleagues in this challenging time”. Stuart Machin, chief executive at M&S, said: “Whether you’re running a home or running a business, everyone across the country is feeling the pressure of rising costs. We want to do what we can to help ease some of that strain; that's why we have invested in price to deliver better value for our customers and, why we are investing in our colleague base pay for the second time this year. “Our colleagues are our biggest asset, and we want to ensure they are fully supported and rewarded for the remarkable contribution they make to M&S.” Graham Bennett, chair of the National Business Involvement Group, added: “Cost-of-living is the most talked about issue amongst our colleagues and we very much welcome the package of support from M&S. “We are pleased our leadership team has listened to colleagues and responded, and we will continue to work closely with them as we head into what is the busiest time of year for retail.”