This week, Tesco made big investments in shop floor pay to help ease the burden of the cost-of-living crisis, following in Asda’s footsteps which unveiled its own increase in pay just days earlier.
Tesco has now made its biggest ever investment in hourly pay, taking the rate to over £11 an hour after reaching an agreement with USDAW.
Retail Gazette compares what the UK’s biggest retailers pay store staff.
John Lewis/Waitrose – £10.75
Partners outside of London receive a minimum of £10.30 an hour, while those inside the M25 will receive at least £11.50.
Many partners outside of the capital are already paid above this – the average rate of non-management pay is around £10.75 per hour.
Back in December the business also made a one-off cost of living payment of £500 (prorated for part time Partners) to support with the cost of living.
In addition to pay, partners benefit from discount after three months (25% off John Lewis and 20% at Waitrose), and discounts at other popular brands, services and attractions across the country.
Aldi £11
New employees working at Aldi are set to earn a minimum of £11 an hour outside of London and £11.95 inside the M25.
Sainsburys – £11
The supermarket pays the “Real Living Wage” for all staff and since May 2022, pay for Sainsbury’s workers in outer London has risen from £10.50 an hour to £11.05 an hour – the Real Living Wage level for London.
Lidl – £10.10
In November 2021, Lidl revealed that entry-level wages would rise from £9.50 to £10.10 an hour outside London, while those in the capital will get £11.30 compared to £10.85 previously.
Ikea – £10.10
At the end of 2021, Ikea was met with praise after announcing that staff would be paid at least £11.30 an hour in London and £10.10 in the rest of the country.
Tesco – £11.02
This week Tesco made its biggest ever investment in hourly pay, taking the rate to over £11 an hour.
The supermarket has reached an agreement with USDAW that will significantly increase the hourly pay rate for colleagues in stores by 72p, from £10.30 to £11.02.
This represents the third pay increase for these colleagues in the last 10 months and an investment of more than £230 million. The combined investment in hourly pay over the last year is a record £450 million.
To reflect the increasing costs its colleagues are currently facing, Tesco said this new rate will come into effect from an earlier date of April 2nd – representing a 7% rise in base pay.
Morrisons £10.20
At the beginning of 2021, Morrisons became one of the first supermarkets in the UK to break the £10 an hour minimum wage barrier as part of a new pay deal that started in April 2021.
The new deal means that since 2014, hourly pay rates for Morrisons’ store customer assistants has gone from £6.83 per hour to £10.20, an increase of more than 40%. The pay deal proposal also follows negotiations with the Usdaw.
M&S – £10.20
M&S revealed that from 1 October, over 40,000 colleagues will see their hourly pay increased to a minimum of £10.20 which follows an initial pay increase to £10 from £9.50 in April this year.
This is ahead of both the national and real living wage.
It represents an annual uplift of 7.4% and means a full-time customer assistant will earn over £100 more each month compared to October 2021.
Asda – £11.11
Last week Asda said it will be increasing the hourly pay for its colleagues by 10% while also offering a bonus payment for staff.
Store colleagues will have their pay increased from £11.00 per hour from April and £11.11 per hour from July.
The bonus amount, which is being offered to staff who have been working for over three months, will be revealed at the end of February and paid the following month.
The grocer has invested £141m to increase the hourly-pay for 115,000 colleagues who work across its 633 stores.
The new rates exceed National Living Wage and Real Living Wage rates and follow an 8% pay increase for hourly-paid retail roles during 2022.
Co-op – £9.90
Co-op pays a minimum of £9.90 an hour and, £11.25 in London. Additionally, it offers paid breaks, up to 10% pension contributions and up to 31 days holiday. Plus a 20% Co-op food discount.
Iceland – £9.00
Shop floor workers at Iceland currently receive £9 an hour, while workers in London earn £9.90. The supermarket pays this rate to employees of all ages, including new starters and its the same as The Food Warehouse.
Currys – £10.35
Currys has increased the hourly pay for its colleagues in the UK to help support them during the cost-of-living crisis.
From 30 October, the retailer‘s rates will increase by a further 3.5% to £10.35 per hour (£11.43 per hour in London), the third rise in the last 13 months.
Currys has increased base hourly pay by 15.6% in just over a year.
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