Many of the employees at Duncan-based Buckerfields鈥� 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 鈥渓iving wage鈥� 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 that鈥檚 with both parents working for that wage at 35 hours a week each.
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The province鈥檚 minimum wage is currently set at $10.85 an hour, but will increase to $11.35 an hour as of Sept. 15.
Buckerfields鈥� CEO Kelvin McCulloch said that by comparison, Buckerfields lowest regional 鈥榣iving wage鈥� after one year of full-time employment is now $16.73 per hour, plus an additional $1.69 in living costs paid through the company鈥檚 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 company鈥檚 $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.
鈥淔irst, we had to build up the company so the pay scale was actually affordable,鈥� he said.
鈥淓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.鈥�
McCulloch said he expects the wage increase will see the company鈥檚 expenses for employees rise by approximately 10 per cent a year; but it鈥檚 worth it.
鈥淲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,鈥� he said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 also a fact that we鈥檙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 won鈥檛 have to start over every time an employee moves on.鈥�
