Don’t use living wage as excuse to cut pay & benefits

Movement:National Living Wage

The Issue

I have worked for B&Q for over 5 years, I started in the business working as a part time customer advisor and have worked my way up to a management position. I live and work in a high cost living area of London. The past month has been one of the most difficult for me personally and as a manager.

In early February 2016, after the Government announced that the minimum wage would be increased to a new ‘national living wage’, B&Q ran a consultation of its pay and rewards framework. They proposed the following changes:

  • removal of time and a half pay for working Sundays,
  • restructuring of allowances for working in high cost of living areas of the UK
  • removal of double time for working bank holidays (now proposed to be 1.5) 
  • Removal of a summer and winter bonus equating to 6% of annual salary 

The full time customer advisors are being hit the hardest. Those who have worked within the business for over a decade and know our customers and our business the best are losing thousands of pounds a year. B&Q are asking people to sign their new terms and conditions of employment or they will be dismissed.

As a manager it has been incredibly difficult conducting consultations with people that are set to lose thousands of pounds and telling them that if they don’t sign by March 24th they will lose their job.

Big businesses like B&Q are using the national living wage as an excuse to cut overall pay and rewards for the people that need it the most. I feel ashamed to work for a business that treats their employees with so little respect. I feel ashamed to work for a business that proposes to pay neighbouring stores two separate rates of pay. I hope that there are others out there that feel the same and support this petition.

I hope that with the support of others, through signing this petition, we can influence B&Q and other businesses to reverse these changes. I also hope they acknowledge that treating people in this way will have a negative impact on their business in the future.

*I've written this petition under a pseudonym to protect myself at work

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Kevin SmithPetition Starter
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This petition had 146,016 supporters

The Issue

I have worked for B&Q for over 5 years, I started in the business working as a part time customer advisor and have worked my way up to a management position. I live and work in a high cost living area of London. The past month has been one of the most difficult for me personally and as a manager.

In early February 2016, after the Government announced that the minimum wage would be increased to a new ‘national living wage’, B&Q ran a consultation of its pay and rewards framework. They proposed the following changes:

  • removal of time and a half pay for working Sundays,
  • restructuring of allowances for working in high cost of living areas of the UK
  • removal of double time for working bank holidays (now proposed to be 1.5) 
  • Removal of a summer and winter bonus equating to 6% of annual salary 

The full time customer advisors are being hit the hardest. Those who have worked within the business for over a decade and know our customers and our business the best are losing thousands of pounds a year. B&Q are asking people to sign their new terms and conditions of employment or they will be dismissed.

As a manager it has been incredibly difficult conducting consultations with people that are set to lose thousands of pounds and telling them that if they don’t sign by March 24th they will lose their job.

Big businesses like B&Q are using the national living wage as an excuse to cut overall pay and rewards for the people that need it the most. I feel ashamed to work for a business that treats their employees with so little respect. I feel ashamed to work for a business that proposes to pay neighbouring stores two separate rates of pay. I hope that there are others out there that feel the same and support this petition.

I hope that with the support of others, through signing this petition, we can influence B&Q and other businesses to reverse these changes. I also hope they acknowledge that treating people in this way will have a negative impact on their business in the future.

*I've written this petition under a pseudonym to protect myself at work

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Kevin SmithPetition Starter
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Petition Closed

This petition had 146,016 supporters

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The Decision Makers

B&Q
B&Q
Responded
“I wanted to write to you personally to provide an update from B&Q regarding our colleagues and the National Living Wage. Firstly, I’d like to say thank you for contacting me. Whether you’re a customer, a B&Q colleague, or a member of the public, I want you to know that I take the views you’ve expressed very seriously. One of our core principles has always been to be a great place to work and to offer an attractive overall reward package to all colleagues. Over the last 10 years, inconsistencies and complexities have arisen in our pay structures which have meant that colleagues doing the same job in the same store were being paid different amounts. That clearly wasn’t consistent so we consulted with our elected staff representatives to design a new pay and reward structure. The new Pay and Rewards framework we’ve implemented means we are now paying everyone, including all those employees under 25, more than the National Living Wage (our minimum basic rate is now £7.66 per hour). That’s in addition to the other benefits our people receive like our award winning pension scheme (with up to 14% employer contributions), a monthly bonus of up to 10% for store colleagues and five weeks’ paid holiday per year. All this together means we have one of the best reward packages in the retail sector. Many colleagues would be better off or unaffected by the recent changes. Our intention was always to minimise the impact on our people, and so previously we had said that for this year we would pay compensation to anyone who would lose out. With the support of our elected staff representatives – our People's Forum, I am pleased to tell you that we have decided to extend this compensation for the next two years. This will mean that during that period all our staff will be better off or unaffected by the Pay and Rewards framework changes. The retail environment is changing so rapidly that no business could accurately predict what will happen more than two years from now. However, I can tell you that over the next two years, we will continue to work with our elected People’s Forum and our colleagues to look at ways we can enhance our overall reward package to ensure we remain one of the best and most attractive employers in retail. Once again, thank you for getting in touch, and I want to assure that we’re always looking at ways we can make B&Q an even better place to work. Best wishes, Michael Loeve Chief Executive - B&Q”
Michael Loeve
Michael Loeve
CEO, B&Q
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Petition created on 22 March 2016