BiP Solutions adopts Living Wage
12 July 2010
BiP Solutions (BiP) – the leading provider of cutting-edge solutions and services that help optimise supply chain value – has announced the adoption of a Living Wage for its employees.
With effect from 6 June 2010, a salary of £7 per hour (equivalent to £14,560 per annum) will be the minimum paid across the business. BiP, which employs more than 230 staff at its Glasgow headquarters, has taken this step to ensure that its employees are guaranteed a rate of pay significantly above the national minimum wage set by the UK Government. BiP’s Living Wage mirrors the initiative taken by Glasgow City Council to pay its workers a minimum of £7 per hour – a step that has also been adopted by a number of other organisations in the city.
The Living Wage is based upon research carried out by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, which has developed a formula for calculating a minimum income standard. It defines a living wage as the level of income needed to provide an acceptable standard of living in Britain to ensure good health, adequate child development and social inclusion. Following detailed research, the Foundation concluded that the living wage for a single working age adult in the UK is £6.88 an hour. The current national minimum wage for workers aged 22 and over is £5.80 (increasing to £5.93 in October 2010) and £4.83 (rising to £4.92 in October 2010) for workers aged 18-21. BiP’s Living Wage of £7 per hour therefore represents a significant uplift to the national minimum wage, and even exceeds that calculated by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
In conjunction with this announcement, BiP has also committed to stimulating opportunities within the company for both young people and the long-term unemployed. The organisation will be engaging with the Modern Apprenticeships initiative to provide individuals with a structured training programme and vital ‘on the job’ industry experience.
BiP CEO Ron Burges said: “At a time when many organisations are reducing salary expenditure or removing employment opportunities altogether, BiP is committing to helping more people into work while ensuring that none of our employees are paid less than they require to maintain an acceptable standard of living. Our introduction of a Living Wage and our commitment to Modern Apprenticeships initiatives shows that we take Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) seriously.”
For further details of BiP’s CSR strategy, please visit www.bipcorporate.com/about/corporate/
For further details on Glasgow’s Living Wage initiative, please visit www.glasgowlivingwage.co.uk/What_is_a_Living+_Wage/
