Discount retailer Aldi has increased its hourly pay rates slightly for store colleagues, maintaining its position as the UK’s highest-paying supermarket.
According to Aldi, all store colleagues at the UK’s fifth-largest supermarket will earn a minimum hourly rate of £9.40 nationally and £10.90 inside the M25, effective from 1st February. They previously earned a minimum of £9.10 and £10.55 per hour respectively.
The national rate rises to £10.41 per hour for colleagues with three-years’ service, while colleagues in London with two years’ service will earn £11.15 per hour.
Aldi’s new rates exceed the Living Wage Foundation’s recommended real living wage rates of £9.30 per hour nationally and £10.75 per hour inside the M25.
The value of this pay increase is boosted by the fact that Aldi is one of the few supermarkets to still pay colleagues for breaks taken during their shift.
“The dedication and commitment our store colleagues deliver every day when serving our customers underpins our success,” Giles Hurley, Chief Executive Officer for Aldi UK, said: “We have the most efficient and productive workforce, and this is why they earn the highest rates of pay in the grocery sector.”
Aldi, which currently has 874 stores, says it will hire more than 3,800 store-level positions this year and remains on track to achieve its long-term target of 1,200 UK stores by 2025.
“We want to recruit the best people in retail, invest in their training and provide them with the opportunity to develop their careers with Aldi as our business grows,” Hurley said.
The supermarket’s current share of the UK grocery market is 7.8%, having increased by 0.4% during the past 12 months.
Aldi has more than doubled its market share since 2010. The company’s current achievements and initiatives include:
- Aldi is the UK’s lowest priced supermarket. The Grocer’s weekly price comparison of 33 supermarket products found that a weekly shop at Aldi was 10.8% cheaper than its nearest competitor (The Grocer – 14th June 2019)
- Aldi has a five-year partnership with Teenage Cancer Trust – its fundraising target of £5m will go towards helping the trust to reach out to every young person with cancer in the UK.
- Aldi is the official supermarket partner of Team GB and ensures every member of the team has access to fresh healthy Aldi food via monthly shopping vouchers, and that 1.2 million 5-14 year olds will learn about the benefits of cooking fresh, healthy food via its Get Set to Eat Fresh education initiative. Aldi has been a partner since 2015 and has extended its commitment to the 2024 Olympic games in Paris.
- In June 2019, for the sixth consecutive year, Aldi was ranked the best-performing supermarket for compliance with the Groceries Supply Code of Practice, underlining its commitment to maintaining fair, predictable and sustainable prices within its supply chain.
