One third of the UK's top companies are now accredited Living Wage employers after drinks giant Diageo became the 33rd FTSE 100 company to sign up for accreditation.
Diageo, a global leader in beverage alcohol employing around 5,000 staff in the UK, announced that it has joined the Living Wage movement this week.
With household name brands including Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff, Guinness, Tanqueray and Gordon's Gin, Diageo's Living Wage commitment sees all staff, direct employees and any third-party contracted staff, receive a minimum hourly wage of £8.45 in the UK or £9.75 in London. These rates are higher than the government's current statutory minimum wage for over 25s of £7.50 per hour.
FTSE 100 Living Wage Employers paying all staff a real Living Wage:
- 3i Group plc
- Anglo American Services UK Ltd
- Ashtead Group
- AstraZeneca PLC
- Aviva Plc
- Barclays Bank PLC
- BHP Billiton
- British Gas
- Burberry
- Diageo PLC
- Experian PLC
- Glencore (UK) Ltd
- GSK
- HSBC Bank Plc
- Informa
- ITV plc
- Land Securities
- Legal and General Assurance Society Limited
- Lloyds Banking Group
- London Stock Exchange Group
- National Grid
- Pearson Plc
- RELX Group plc
- Royal Bank of Scotland
- RSA Insurance plc
- Sage (UK) Limited
- Schroders
- Smith and Nephew
- SSE plc
- St. James's Place Wealth Management Group plc
- Standard Chartered
- Standard Life plc
- Unilever
Diageo is a global company, supplying more than 180 countries around the world. The company is listed on both the London Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange.
Scotland is home to Diageo's largest global manufacturing and supply base, with over 50 sites, including 28 single malt distilleries, while London is home to the company's global Head Quarters.
Diageo celebrated their Living Wage Foundation accreditation in Scotland at the company's cooperage at Cambus near Stirling, where casks are prepared for Scotch whisky maturation, along with Keith Brown MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Jobs & Fair Work in the Scottish Government.
David Cutter, the company's President of Global Supply & Procurement, said:
"Creating shared value for our employees, shareholders and communities is at the heart of everything Diageo does as a business. We value all our employees, working both directly and indirectly at our sites across the UK. For this reason we are pleased to become a Living Wage employer and to support the Living Wage Foundation campaign in the UK."
Director of the Living Wage Foundation, Katherine Chapman, said:
"It's great to see the UK's top businesses leading the way on fair pay: it's clear that successful brands value their employees and recognise the tangible business benefits of paying the real Living "Wage. We welcome Diageo to the Living Wage movement and applaud them for voluntarily signing up to pay the real Living Wage which is calculated annually to reflect the real costs of living.
The Living Wage movement comprises 3,400 UK employers who choose to go further than the government minimum wage to make sure all their staff earn enough to live on. We have lots of small businesses as well as big household names like; IKEA, Aviva, Chelsea and Everton Football Clubs and many more."