The impact of the Living Wage

What are the elements that combine to make the perfect job? I’m betting that money, location, job satisfaction and how we get on with work colleagues would rank pretty highly. 

Pay and the Living Wage regularly make the headlines, and are emphasised again in a new report from the Living Wage Foundation, launched as part of Living Wage Week. The cleaning industry has come under close scrutiny in terms of its treatment of operatives in recent years, as highlighted in another recent report, ‘The Invisible Workforce: Employment Practices in the Cleaning Sector’, published in August this year by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). 

Responsible employers are recognising the importance of paying a Living Wage that reflects the real cost of living, rewarding a hard day’s work with a fair day’s pay. My organisation is dedicated to the well-being of our staff, encouraging self-improvement through training, and rewarding hard work. We are a Living Wage recognised service provider and actively encourage all clients to adopt this rate for the cleaners on their contracts. We were pleased to be recognised for our endorsement of fair pay by being shortlisted amongst other forward thinking organisations for the Living Wage Champion Awards 2014.   

Earlier this year, we were delighted to win a significant cleaning contract with City University London, which is ranked within the top 5% of universities in the world. When it was choosing a new contract provider, fair pay was a key issue, as not only is this renowned university committed to academic excellence, it also supports the London Living Wage.

All staff directly employed by City University London were already paid above the London Living Wage; however, some contractors with staff working on its campus were paying below that threshold. This had been a source of comment by staff, students and local stakeholders. The University listened very carefully to those comments and decided that on renewal of third party contracts, it would stipulate minimum pay rates at the level of the London Living Wage. This is in line with an emerging trend among older universities in London. Two new contracts at City University London, for catering and cleaning services, were renewed in August 2014 on this basis.

Ms Gomes Vilele is one of Julius Rutherfoord’s cleaning operatives working at City University London where she works four hours a day, five days a week. She cleans the washroom facilities and sometimes assists with cleaning the lecture halls. Before working for Julius Rutherfoord and City University London, she was earning the minimum wage and found that raising a family on that level of pay in London was very difficult.

Ms Gomes Vilele explains: "Now I am earning the London Living Wage, backed by on-going training and support at work, I am a lot happier. I have more money for my children that previously didn’t stretch very far past essentials. Sometimes we can allow ourselves a treat like all going to the cinema, which I couldn’t afford to do before."

In order to provide the consistently excellent cleaning standards that clients quite rightly expect, you need a workforce that is loyal, motivated and well-trained, with as little staff turnover as possible. Organisations can deliver this by offering good working conditions – a mainstay of which is rewarding good work with fair pay.