Marks & Spencer is giving staff a second pay rise this year and giving 4,500 workers £250 shopping vouchers as part of a £15m package to help with the rising cost of living.
The clothing, homewares and food retailer is providing free meals to workers in its warehouses that have already been provided to workers in stores, and both groups will have access to free sanitary products.
Employees will be able to attend financial planning workshops and receive meal planning advice, as well as receive a 20% discount on M&S purchases.
The company said more than 40,000 workers would see their hourly pay rise by 2% to a minimum of £10.20 an hour from October 1 – up from the £10-an-hour rate introduced in April – under its first autumn pay review.
The deal will pay a full-time customer assistant an extra £100 a month compared to October last year when staff earned a minimum of £9.50 an hour. The latest deal contributed to a 7.4% annual improvement.
Stuart Machin, chief executive of M&S, said: “Whether you run a home or a business, everyone across the country is feeling the pressure of rising costs. We want to do what we can to help alleviate some of that strain.”
The pay-out is the latest effort by businesses to help workers cope with rising inflation on household bills and essentials from travel to food.
John Lewis provides free meals to all its staff, including temporary staff, during its peak Christmas trading period, as well as a one-off living allowance of £500 for full-time staff, respectively for part-time workers. .
In July, Aldi said it was keeping the hourly wage for the second time in a year with a minimum increase of 40p outside the M25 to £10.50 and £11.95 in London, a rise of at least 3.5%.
Tesco and sandwich chain Pret A Manger have raised pay for workers twice in the past year, while Asda increased its pay to £10.10 an hour in July after unions criticized it for lagging behind rival chains, from £9.66 in April.
