9 minute read
Seeing the benefits of paying the Real Living Wage
With rapidly increasing awareness of the Real Living Wage, accredited employers are reporting increased payment levels for staff as a benefit rather than just a cost
One of the more positive responses to the various challenges that emerge in all areas of professional and personal lives is the well-known expression “every cloud has a silver lining”.
This is perhaps even more relevant in the current economic climate that includes high inflation, supply chain uncertainty and record prices for energy. One of the silver linings within these factors is the notably higher levels of awareness of the need to support and assist staff in dealing with the increased cost of living.
With significant numbers of businesses continuing to deal with the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic, one of the more positive developments related to this is that more than 11,000 companies are now accredited as complying with the Real Living Wage. This number has increased by approximately 50% since 2020 and provides firm evidence of improving levels of recognition of the need to support staff members.
Within the FM sector, concern continues to be expressed about the rates of pay for cleaners, security personnel and hospitality, but the efforts of both clients and service providers are combining to address many of the issues. In many cases, implementation of the Real Living Wage (RLW) will mean challenging some accepted practices, although there is growing evidence to support the view that the benefits far outweigh the cost of higher wages.
This year sees the Living Wage movement celebrating its 21st anniversary since its formation in 2001. With significant growth recorded in recent years, there is growing evidence to support the view that this year represents a coming of age for the RLW movement.
Living Wage Foundation programme manager Sebastian Bachelier spoke to FM Director about both the foundation and its Recognised Service Provider (RSP) accreditation, for which he is project manager. The RSP was formed in 2014 with the aim of ensuring that all members agree to submit bids to clients for payment of the RLW and provide annual reports on levels of pay for their staff.
“It’s not always possible for service providers to pay the RLW for various reasons, which is why RSP accredited companies agree to always submit a bid that includes it, then it’s up to the client to decide whether they pay it or not.
“The intention of the accreditation is to help businesses convert to paying the RLW and hope that the annual reports show increases in payment levels year on year. If all service providers were submitting bids that included the RLW, this would eventually change the market and everyone would get the benefit,” he continues.
Mr Bachelier explains that the RSP network consists of approximately 180 members, all of whom are from the private sector and with the majority involved in the provision of cleaning, security and catering services. He further explains that the Living Wage movement first began within the financial sector, with cleaners and security guards most represented within this.
Living wage campaign
With Citizens UK continuing to oversee all campaigning activities, the Living Wage Foundation was launched to formally accredit organisations for paying all staff members the RLW. There is an additional requirement for Living Wage employers to have a three-year plan to bring all third-party contractors to the same position.
“The idea is that for Living Wage employers, after three years everyone working at your offices or on your sites, or where your company is working will be paid the Real Living Wage,” he continues. Regarding the recent growth in accreditation numbers, Mr Bachelier believes that recognition for key workers during the pandemic has helped to raise awareness of the need to support all staff members.
Mr Bachelier states that within the RSP, CBRE and Corps Security are “really big advocates” and doing “incredibly well” in promoting the RLW and encouraging more companies to increase their wages. Unlike the RLW accreditation, the RSP accreditation only covers a small number of sectors and currently consists of 185 members, which includes the majority of large FM service providers.
Extensive sign up
There is considerable potential to further extend both the numbers of those signing up to the group and the sectors it covers, which at present mainly focuses on cleaning, security and hospitality. “This is perhaps why the group is not as widely known as the core Living Wage accreditation, which covers all sectors and industries. And while we have a lot of SMEs accredited as Living Wage employers, we’re missing a lot of the SME FM service providers, at present.”
In addition to increasing the numbers of those signing up to the RSP accreditation, Mr Bachelier explains that there is now more focus on helping members to explain the benefits they have enjoyed, with the aim of encouraging higher numbers of clients to engage and support the RLW. Another of the various means used to further develop the RSP is the creation of local Living Wage Action groups around the country.
“The idea is that local prominent organisations will come together and create a three-year action plan that will see the number of people earning the Real Living Wage increase,” he says.
Sebastian Bachelier
The action groups are currently being set up in cities, towns and London boroughs.
“We facilitate but the coordination is led by the groups because they have a strong connection with their local area. It’s mostly Living Wage employers that sit on these groups, but we’re starting to see more Recognised Service Providers join, as well.
“And two of our biggest initiatives are currently making Greater Manchester and Greater London Living Wage regions. They’re both being led by the mayors in partnership with us.”
The target of the London region is to uplift 78,000 people onto the RLW within the next three years. The Greater Manchester group, chaired by mayor Andy Burnham, launched its three-year action plan during the dedicated Living Wage Week last year, with the London group planned for launch during this year’s initiative, which starts on 14 November.
“Service providers feature prominently on these Action Groups and we already have a few sitting on key working strands such as the Hospitality and Service Providers group,” says Mr Bachelier.
In addition to the London launch, there will be a number of official RLW events around the UK, with more details available at Living Wage Week | Living Wage Foundation.
We also spoke to CBRE Global Workplace Solutions (GWS) ESG director Amey Brogan to ask for more details on how her company engages with the RLW RSP accreditation. She began by confirming the growing importance of ESG around the world.
“We are proud to have created a framework that educates and supports our suppliers, customers, and partners. A fundamental part of our strategy focuses on people. We believe that everybody has the right to fair and honest pay, so engaging with the Living Wage Foundation was a natural step in ensuring we, and our customers and partners, understand the importance and significance of paying a Real Living Wage.”
The company’s commitment to the RSP accreditation means it is committed to paying its directly employed staff at the appropriate level, she continues. “Additionally, we are committed to encouraging our customers to pay the Living Wage within their service contracts. It became apparent that this would require more than simply providing an additional quotation within a bid to include an option to pay contracted employees. It required education with a variety of stakeholders.”
Support framework
To deliver this, the company has utilised its supplier partner programme to provide the necessary education and support framework, targeting a variety of stakeholders.
“With our supplier partners, we collaborate to agree the benefits of paying the Real Living Wage and work with them to engage with the Living Wage Foundation to become a Recognised Service Provider. Working in partnership, CBRE and our supplier partners have held events and engaged with customers in many ways to ensure our people strategy remains continuously and effectively communicated. Since implementing, we have seen increased customer engagement and significantly more contracts that are committing to pay the Living Wage than ever before,” says Ms Brogan.
Corps Security is another well-regarded member of the RSP accreditation and chief executive Mike Bullock tells FM Director that the company was founded with a clear social mission to provide gainful employment to servicemen returning from the Crimean War. “Even then, we committed to being an organisation dedicated to its people. As the company has evolved, we have committed to paying the real Living Wage because it is the right thing to do for our people.
Finding a way to make it work
“We need to be able to attract the best talent to the company and pay is fundamental for this. However, it is more complicated commercially, as the competitive bid process revolves around cost. You will not win the business if your offer is not competitive and attractive.
“But this did not deter us; we just had to find a way to make it work. When we joined the Living Wage Foundation we could not be a Living Wage Employer, as most of our employees work on customer contracts, so we became an RSP. By doing so, we have committed to paying 100% of our directly employed colleagues the Living Wage whilst also agreeing to encourage every customer, during a bid process or contract negotiation, to do the same.
“As an RSP, we have been able to further educate our stakeholders about the significance of the Living Wage. We have access to great support from the foundation, which consistently provides facts and data that can help to grow engagement from our customers.
“More significantly, we have been able to engage in events, education programmes, provide speakers and much more with our customers, such as CBRE. They have regularly provided Corps with the opportunity to engage with the wider FM sector and their large customer base.
“This increased engagement and the growth in understanding are having a very positive impact on our business. In September, Corps announced we’re providing over 85% of our 3,000+ colleague base with the real Living Wage, and still rising, and our employee retention remains much higher than the standard for our industry as a result,” says Mr Bullock.
Mike Bullock
Real Living Wage timeline
2001 Citizens UK launch the Living Wage Movement
2011 Living Wage Foundation formed
2014 Launch of Recognised Service Providers accreditation
2022 More than 11,000 accredited Living Wage employers and 180 Recognised Service Provider group members
More than £2.3bn paid to low wage workers through the scheme
Over 390,000 workers have received a pay rise
