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Morrisons employee morale ‘super-low’ despite pay rise

By Nagasunder in UK Business News, posted April 4, 2023

Employees at Morrisons say morale is "super-low" after a "government-enforced pay increase" taking its hourly-paid employees up to the new national living wage of £10.42 per hour.

Last week, the UK government declared the single largest increase to the national living wage since its inception, raising it by 9.7 percent to £10.42 beginning in April 2023.

But despite the increase, a Morrisons employee, who has been working at the supermarket for 18 months, told Grocery Gazette: “Morale is super low at the moment for staff, as those who now happen to be on minimum wage after the uplift feel they have no reward for their loyalty to the business.”

Morrisons says in a company-wide announcement obtained by Grocery Gazette it will "fully comply" with the new rules and will pay the new national living wage to all hourly-paid employees, regardless of age.

The pay increase will take effect on April 3.

Morrisons also mentioned its "fair day's pay for a fair day's work" policy, before disclosing that, despite ranking near the bottom of the supermarket pay league, staff pay will not be reviewed again until October 2023.

Morrisons employees were previously paid £10.20 per hour, a market-leading' rate when it was revealed in June 2022.

Since then, as the cost of living and inflation have risen, a number of other supermarkets have increased their hourly rates to more than £11, with Aldi paying as much as £11.40 per hour nationwide, and £12.85 within the M25.

One of Grocery Gazette’s sources also revealed CEO David Potts recently sent out an email to staff, commenting on the positive Q1 results and referring to Morrisons’ staff as “the cornerstone of this improving picture”.

“Across the whole business, you have continued to help our customers by providing colourful, vibrant, fresh food shopping trips and I wanted to thank you all for everything you’re doing.”

The source added: “With the Government-enforced pay rise falling on minimum wage for many staff members, it doesn’t seem that Morrisons care too much to reward any loyalties with the business.

“Morrisons has stated its salary review is in October, but that’s no guarantee that the review will be a significant one either.

“We have been positioned to work hard for the next six months and simply hope that our salary review is substantial. It falls in October just before the busiest period of the year, so colleagues may struggle throughout the year and it’s going to add a lot of unnecessary worry.”

The update, sent from group people and corporate services director Clare Grainger, said: “significant investment will ensure all colleagues, irrespective of age, move to a minimum of £10.42, and it will maintain the existing differentials for all hourly roles that are already paid above £10.42”.

This implies that for each role, 22p per hour will be added to the base rate of pay, for a total investment of £30 million.

The move was part of Morrisons' "commitment to fairness and consistency," and will impact more than 25,000 co-workers under the age of 23, or those already paid above the national living wage.

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Morrisons says the move has the support of the retail trade union Usdaw, which is "supportive of the additional investment we are making in pay, outside of and in addition to the pay negotiation process."

However, Usdaw has said it is “disappointed” with the new minimum wage, as it means that “low-paid workers will not receive a minimum wage increase that will offer a wage they can live on”. It is calling for an increase to at least £12 per hour immediately.

Source: Grocery Gazette