Aldi staff ‘rewarded for amazing work’ with pay rise

Supermarket chain Aldi is increasing the pay for its 28,000 employees, with store assistants set to receive at least £10.10 an hour from February 2022.

The employer has shared that workers will receive £10.10 an hour nationally and £11.55 for those inside the M25.

In a release, Aldi revealed that the new rates exceed the Living Wage Foundation’s recommended real Living Wage rates of £9.90 an hour nationally and £11.05 an hour inside the M25.

Commenting on the move, Giles Hurley, chief executive officer at Aldi UK and Ireland, shared that the business wants to ensure all employees are “rewarded for their amazing work”.

“The commitment and enthusiasm of our colleagues has driven our success over many years, particularly during the last 18 months,” he explained.

“We want to ensure our colleagues are always fully rewarded for their amazing work. These new rates, together with the fact that we are the only supermarket to pay colleagues for breaks taken during their shifts, means we continue to offer the best pay in the supermarket sector.”

Thanks to paid breaks offered by Aldi, the average store colleague earns an extra £750 annually.

Pay hikes

Aldi isn’t the only supermarket to reward its workers with a pay increase, as earlier this year Lidl announced it would be upping the pay packets of its employees in March 2022.

It shared that the minimum pay for those outside of London will increase from £9.50 to £10.10 an hour, while in the capital the rates will be boosted from £10.85 to £11.35.

Nan Gibson, chief HR officer at Lidl, said: “In 2015 we became the first supermarket in the UK to match the rates advocated by the Living Wage Foundation, and we are proud to have consistently increased wages every year since.

“There is no denying how hard our people work, more so than ever during recent times, and we’re delighted to be able to give our store and distribution centre colleagues the recognition they deserve and look forward to welcoming new colleagues to our teams in the months ahead.”

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