The Grower has recently been accredited as a Living Wage Employer. Their Living Wage commitment will see everyone working at The Grower receive a minimum hourly wage of £12, higher than the government minimum for over 21s, which currently stands at £11.44 per hour.
The Grower is based in St Agnes, Cornwall, in the South West of England, where over a tenth of all jobs (11.8%) pay less than the real Living Wage - around 285,000 jobs. Despite this, The Grower has committed to pay the real Living Wage and deliver a fair day’s pay for a hard day’s work
The real Living Wage is the only rate calculated according to the costs of living. It provides a voluntary benchmark for employers that wish to ensure their staff earn a wage they can live on, not just the government minimum. Since it began, the Living Wage movement has delivered a pay rise to over 360,000 people and put £3 billion extra into the pockets of low paid workers.
Chris King and Inez Williams-King, owners, believe that it is important to pay a fair wage to their workers. They say “our ethos is sustainability, in the plants that we're growing and the way we run the farm, so it makes sense to us to carry that through to the way we treat our staff as well. Giving our team a fair wage will help us retain staff, and play our part in the local economy, building up this deprived area and creating jobs that people will want to have.”
Katherine Chapman, Director, Living Wage Foundation said: “We're delighted that The Grower has joined the movement of over 14,000 responsible employers across the UK who voluntarily commit to go further than the government minimum to make sure all their staff earn enough to live on.
“They join thousands of small businesses, as well as household names such as Burberry, Barclays, Everton Football Club and many more. These businesses recognise that paying the real Living Wage is the mark of a responsible employer and they, like The Grower, believe that a hard day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay."
Inez Williams-King on contact@thegrower.co.uk www.thegrower.co.uk
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