Asda has introduced new staff benefits and confirmed its proposal to raise retail pay rates to £12.04 per hour has been accepted by workers.
The Care Concierge benefit, managed by Legal & General, offers workers assistance in later-life care for loved ones, via free confidential one-to-one telephone services, while the Mortgage Advice Bureau provides guidance for staff navigating property purchase or remortgaging.
The new benefits, whiich are available to all 150,000 of the supermarket’s workers at no charge, are introduced as it confirmed proposal to increase hourly pay for all store-based staff from £11.11 to £12.04 has been accepted, following a ballot by Usdaw members.
The move represents an 8.4% rise in pay and a total investment of £150m in staff pay this year, making Asda the highest-paying traditional supermarket in the UK, it said.
Pay rates will initially go up from £11.11 to £11.44 on 1 April to meet National Minimum Wage requirements, followed by another rise to £12.04 on 1 July.
Rates for staff members working at stores inside the M25 will rise to £13.21 per hour.
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Asda chief people and corporate affairs officer Hayley Tatum said: “We have made a record investment in pay this year to recognise the great work our colleagues do serving customers every day and we are delighted that our proposal has been accepted.
“We also understand that supporting our colleagues goes beyond pay and the workplace, which is why we continue to explore new benefits for colleagues to provide support for their and their families health and wellbeing.”
The pay rise comes as Asda has faced potential strikes at a handful of stores, following a walkout by workers at its Gosport superstore last month. A second store in Wisbech in Cambridgeshire is set to strike over Easter weekend, one of the supermarket’s busiest times of the year, the GMB union has warned.
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