Many of the employees at Duncan-based Buckerfieldssa国际传媒� stores in B.C. are getting raises.
Buckerfields has announced that, as of Sept. 2, all its full-time staff at its eight stores on Vancouver Island and in the Lower Mainland, Okanagan and Shuswap will be paid according to a sa国际传媒渓iving wagesa国际传媒� scale.
A living wage is a standard of pay based on actual living costs in a given region.
Social Planning Cowichan recently released its living wage for the Cowichan Valley for 2017.
According to the SPC, the living wage of a typical family of four, with two parents and two children, in the Cowichan Valley is $19.05 per hour
And thatsa国际传媒檚 with both parents working for that wage at 35 hours a week each.
FOR RELATED STORY,
The provincesa国际传媒檚 minimum wage is currently set at $10.85 an hour, but will increase to $11.35 an hour as of Sept. 15.
Buckerfieldssa国际传媒� CEO Kelvin McCulloch said that by comparison, Buckerfields lowest regional sa国际传媒榣iving wagesa国际传媒� after one year of full-time employment is now $16.73 per hour, plus an additional $1.69 in living costs paid through the companysa国际传媒檚 benefits program.
He said part-time employees start at $14.75 per hour and all pay rates are expected to increase annually according to the BC Consumer Price Index.
McCulloch said Buckerfields employees also participate in the companysa国际传媒檚 $1 dollar per hour Sales Bonus program, the Employee Discount program for store purchases and the company supplies various work wear, safety items and pet food to employees free of charge.
He said the company has been working on developing a consistent pay scale across all the stores since 2005.
sa国际传媒淔irst, we had to build up the company so the pay scale was actually affordable,sa国际传媒� he said.
sa国际传媒淓very year we increased and levelled wages as much as possible. This year we hit upon the concept of the living wage. We realized it was the right thing to do and we could do it. Notices of pay increases went out to store employees in the last week of August.sa国际传媒�
McCulloch said he expects the wage increase will see the companysa国际传媒檚 expenses for employees rise by approximately 10 per cent a year; but itsa国际传媒檚 worth it.
sa国际传媒淲e have senior people who have been working for Buckerfields for 20 to 25 years who are excellent customer service people and are really ambassadors for the company, and they should be paid accordingly,sa国际传媒� he said.
sa国际传媒淚tsa国际传媒檚 also a fact that wesa国际传媒檙e beginning to have trouble finding good new people to work for us. The baby-boom bulge is now almost over and the labour market is getting tight. We want to be competitive and get the best people who will want to stay with us a long time. In the end, it will save the company money because we wonsa国际传媒檛 have to start over every time an employee moves on.sa国际传媒�
