Troy Moffatt, FRG Group Commercial Director, discusses the real Living Wage and why it is an important part of FRG’s EPIC values:
Troy, how did you become the FRG real Living Wage Champion?
It all started in 2018 with the business wanting to make a positive change that would impact for our frontline colleagues. We realised the most impactful thing we could do is influence Real Living Wages with our customers for our colleagues.
From there I set out to understand the process to align with the Living Wage Foundation and the movement resonated with me on a personal level and it has been my passion project ever since.
I now work with the Living Wage Foundation and other industry leaders (such as, Sodexo, CBRE, JLL, Corps, Compass and Carlisle) on the Recognised Service Providers Leadership Group, we assist the Foundation on policy decisions and provide expertise and experience to better promote the real Living Wage across the industry.
How is the real Living Wage different to the National Living Wage?
The real Living Wage is based on the actual cost of living. It is independently calculated by the Resolution Foundation according to the cost of living, based on a basket of household goods and services. There is also a London weighting. The real Living wage is currently £12.00 per hour and the London Living Wage is £13.15 per hour.
Whereas the National Living Wage is not calculated against the cost of living, it is based on a % of Median Earnings (66%) and is £11.44 per hour, nationally.
FRG is a Living Wage Foundation Recognised Service Provider – what does that mean?
That’s right. The Recognised Service Provider (RSP) scheme was set up by the Living Wage Foundation in recognition of the challenges within the service sectors (Security, Cleaning, Catering) where wage rates are influenced by end clients.
As an RSP, FRG have committed to;
- Pay all directly employed staff that are not tied to client contracts at least a Real Living Wage
- Always offer a Real Living Wage bid to all our clients and potential clients meaning the client has the choice to implement the Real Living Wage.
I am thankful to our teams and our fantastic clients in supporting this important initiative. To date we have been able to secure Real Living Wages on 77% of our contracts with 86% of our Front-Line colleagues receiving a Real Living Wage.
Why is working with the Living Wage Foundation important to FRG?
Because it’s important to our people and it’s the right thing to do.
We live our values at FRG and the Living Wage movement aligns with all of our EPIC values;
Empowerment: By engaging with our colleagues and clients we are able to build lasting relationships based on trust. This empowers creative thinking and unlocks potential
Passion: Through the commitment to real Living Wages we hope to inspire our colleagues to succeed in their roles and aspire to develop as professionals
Integrity: We recognise that our front-line colleagues are the backbone of our business and we always work with our clients to recognise this value seeking to adopt the Real Living Wage
Community: Our colleagues are a community and we strongly believe in a culture of Fairness, Inclusion & Respect. Through our work with the Living Wage Foundation we demonstrate our commitment to our Community and show that we always seek to support them.
You can find out more about the Livign Wage Foundation at www.livingwage.org.uk
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