This Living Wage Week we are celebrating accredited employers based in Wales. A significant accreditation this year has been Shaw Healthcare, an employee owned healthcare business based in Cardiff, following a multi-million-pound investment into employee salaries.
From 1 March 2022, everyone at Shaw saw an increase in their salaries of between three and 10 per cent, per annum, with the lowest paid receiving the highest uplift. This commitment to paying the real Living Wage to all its employees – regardless of length of service – will result in a total investment of £6.3m in employee salaries by the company for 2022.
Chief Executive Officer, Russell Brown, has implemented a series of actions to increase the sense of ownership, engagement, and involvement in the company – including creating an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) in May 2020. The successful transition to being an EOT places Shaw in the top 10 of UK’s largest employee-owned companies amongst the likes of John Lewis and makes it the largest employee-owned healthcare company in the UK.
Mr Brown commented: “As an employee-owned company, all staff have received up to £1,100 in tax-free bonuses to date. We whole-heartedly acknowledge that it’s our employees who enable Shaw to maintain an excellent level of care, even during challenging periods such as the pandemic. We wanted to invest in them and show them that we care about doing the right thing – and becoming accredited Living Wage employers has helped bring that vision to life.”
Please watch the video below to hear more from Shaw healthcare and its staff about what the real Living Wage means for them.