Scotland’s largest independent brewery, BrewDog is to introduce a pioneering living wage policy for its UK staff, making an unprecedented commitment to the wellbeing of its employees.
Effective immediately, BrewDog has introduced a written company policy ensuring all its UK employees – currently 314 – receive at least the recognised living wage calculated for their location. Rather than following legal minimum wage limits, the new policy will instead focus on what supports a suitable standard of living for staff.
Living wage is £2,787 per year higher than minimum wage
The minimum wage in the UK is currently £6.31 per hour for workers aged 21 years or more, and just £5.03 per hour for workers aged 18 to 20 inclusive. The living wage is £1.34 per hour higher than this, at £7.65 per hour (£8.80 an hour in London). Over a 40-hour working week, employees earning a living wage in the UK are paid £53.60 more than those paid the national minimum wage.
Wake-up call for employers in the hospitality industry
James Watt, cofounder at BrewDog commented:
“BrewDog is an eclectic collective of passionate people committed to great craft beer. All of them, from our talented brewers to our awesome bar staff, are integral to our success and growth so we wanted to reward their passion and dedication by guaranteeing a fair wage for all. All of our staff will receive a wage that will afford them a good standard of living wherever they might be located.”
“We want this to be a wakeup call for employers, especially in the hospitality industry. What should be a respected profession is often still regarded as a university stop gap. No other bar division has ever looked beyond legal minimum wages or legislative parameters in committing to salary levels for staff. But we want this to provide a call to arms for the industry to pick up its feet and set new standards.”
Expanding international presence
With its brewing operation in Aberdeenshire, Scotland BrewDog currently operates 17 bars in the UK, including four in London. The brewery has also opened five international bars in Tokyo, Sao Paulo, Florence, Stockholm and Gothenburg. The brewer has plans to launch bars in Liverpool, Brighton, Rome, Bologna, Helsinki and Berlin in the coming months.
In April, BrewDog also opened its first off-licence, BottleDog in Kings Cross, London and the brewery plans to open a series of additional locations this year. In addition, ‘Dog eat Dog’ will become BrewDog’s first craft beer restaurant in Islington, London later this year. Over the last five years, BrewDog has experienced an average annual growth of 285%, making it the fastest growing food and drinks company in the UK.
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