Standard Life becomes living wage employer

Standard Life has been accredited as a living wage employer.

StandardLife-Building-2013

The organisation, which employs more than 5,000 people, will pay all staff the living wage, which is set at £8.80 in London and £7.65 for the rest of the UK.

The financial services organisation first introduced the living wage in April 2012, but has now extended the policy to include contracted services staff, as well as school leavers and graduates on its intern programmes.

Standard Life has also committed to not employing any staff on zero-hours contracts.

Sandy Begbie, group operations officer of Standard Life, said: “By introducing our living wage policy and our commitment to having no zero-hours contracts, we’re helping the people who work for Standard Life in the UK and supporting the communities in which we are based.

“Being a living wage employer has supported us in attracting high-quality candidates who want to stay, and we are also seeing a positive impact on our employee engagement and the overall quality of the work we do.

“All of this is an important part of our strategy to be a sustainable business and we are really pleased to have achieved full accreditation from the Living Wage Foundation.”

Rhys Moore, director of the Living Wage Foundation, added: “We are delighted to accredit Standard Life as a living wage employer.

”The leadership shown by Standard Life demonstrates a commitment to tackling the serious problems that low pay and zero-hours contracts bring to our communities.”