Kuoni has become an accredited Real Living Wage employer, as part of the company’s “ongoing commitment to being one of the best places to work in travel”.
The announcement comes ahead of Living Wage Week (November 4-10) and sees Kuoni join more than 15,000 organisations that voluntarily choose to offer the higher amount of basic pay.
The Real Living Wage differs from the government’s minimum wage, known as the National Living Wage, which is due to rise to £11.44 for over-21s following the autumn Budget.
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The Real Living Wage is an independently calculated hourly rate of pay based on the actual cost of living.
It is calculated each year and is announced by the Living Wage Foundation as part of Living Wage week. It is currently £12.60 in the UK and £13.85 in London.
Next week will see the topic in the spotlight, focusing on the day-to-day cost of living challenges for many employees and putting media attention on employers who are choosing to increase their basic rates of pay.
Employers that are part of the Real Living Wage campaign include half of the FTSE 100, Nationwide, Google and Lush along with thousands of small to medium-size businesses throughout the UK.
Mark Duguid (pictured), Kuoni managing director, said: “This is something I firmly believe in and wanted to make a clear commitment to fair pay for everyone who works with us directly or indirectly via third party suppliers, such as cleaning staff, for example.
“It’s the right thing to do and we’re proud to be part of a movement which allows everyone the dignity of fair pay for the hard work they put it, so they thrive as our business thrives.
“We aim to be one of the best places to work in travel and that means going above and beyond so we attract and retain the best staff, so we are happy to announce our accreditation at the start of Living Wage week.”
