Leading independent motorway service operator Welcome Break has today announced (Monday February 1) that it will pay the National Living Wage to all its employees across the UK from April 1.
The National Living Wage will be the minimum starting rate for all of the company’s 5,000 plus employees across its 27 sites, irrespective of age.
Presently 2,095 employees (42 per cent of the workforce) is aged under 25 and the decision to provide all of its staff with the National Living Wage is part of Welcome Break’s ongoing strategy to attract the very best people to work for the company.
Welcome Break will spend an additional £4 million to ensure it attracts the best recruits. For some employees, this will represent an increase of 33 per cent on their current wage.
It is the first of the UK’s major motorway service operators to make this commitment to its team members.
Welcome Break CEO Rod McKie, said: “We are dedicated to offering dependable jobs to the very best people available, and pride ourselves on ensuring Welcome Break is a great place to work.
“If you want to attract the best people you need to reward them accordingly, and as such we’ve made the decision to give all of our employees, regardless of age, the National Living Wage.
“This is alongside the excellent career development opportunities with our world class brand partners and a host of other benefits, all our employees receive.”
Welcome Break is committed to rewarding employee success, and also ensuring team members can progress throughout the company. Over 85 per cent of its managers were promoted internally into their positions, while the brand’s investment in technology and online recognition schemes meant it formally recognised high performance in team members over 15,000 times in 2015.