Always trying to remain one step ahead of its competitors, including discount rival Lidl GB, Aldi again is increasing minimum pay of store assistants in the UK to £11.00 per hour, and £12.45 within the M25, from 1st January.
Depending on length of service, those workers could earn £11.90 nationally and £12.75 within the M25. All told, including the hundreds of new hires it is planning before the festive season begins, Aldi has spent more than £81m on its workforce in the past two years.
“Just as we promise Aldi customers that we will always offer the lowest grocery prices in Britain, we are committed to being the highest-paying supermarket for our colleagues,” Giles Hurley, Chief Executive Officer of Aldi UK and Ireland, said. “We are incredibly proud of every single member of Team Aldi, and are pleased to become the first UK supermarket to pay a minimum of £11 per hour to all store assistants, exceeding the Living Wage Foundation’s recommended Real Living Wage.”
Those rises in pay mean colleagues will have received 15% more than they did in the year prior, beating the pace of inflation. That is key not only in retention across departments but also in keeping those departments in store well-maintained.
Just three weeks ago, Lidl had announced it was “the highest paying supermarket in the UK” after it said it planned to boost the number of workers for the festive season. Customer assistants, cleaners and warehouse operatives are receiving a minimum of £10.90 an hour outside of London and £11.95 inside the M25. Lidl GB has raised entry-level pay by 50p to 60p per hour for entry-level workers 23 and older. That increase is a 6% boost in pay for some workers.
One difference between Aldi and other retailers is that they offer paid breaks, which they claim helps workers earn an extra £871 per year. In addition, logistics colleagues are getting paid at least £10.90 to start.
Boosting pay, even incrementally, also serves to increase the pool of candidates for the discounters. And that is important given the quest by Aldi and Lidl to increase its reach and the number of stores in the UK. All told, and by the end of the year, Aldi is expected to have made more than 10,000 new permanent hires for its 970-plus supermarkets in two years.
