The clothing, homewares and food retailer is also offering free food to workers in its warehouses, in addition to what is already provided to store staff, and both groups will have access to free hygiene products. Employees will also be able to attend financial planning workshops and receive advice on meal planning, as well as continue to receive a 20% discount on M&S purchases. The company said that as part of its first autumn pay review, the hourly pay of more than 40,000 staff will rise by 2% to at least £10.20 an hour from October 1 – up from £10 an hour introduced in April. The deal will give a full-time customer assistant an extra £100 a month compared to October last year, when workers earned at least £9.50 an hour. The latest deal contributes to an annual increase of 7.4%. Stuart Machin, chief executive of M&S, said: “Whether you run a home or a business, everyone across the country is feeling the pressure of rising costs. We want to do whatever we can to help relieve someone of that pressure.” The payment is the latest attempt by businesses to help workers cope with rising inflation in household bills and on essentials from travel to food. John Lewis will offer free food to all its employees, including temporary staff, during the peak Christmas period, as well as a one-off cost of living support payment of £500 for full-time workers, pro rata for part-time workers . Subscribe to Business Today Get ready for the business day – we’ll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. In July, Aldi said it was raising hourly wages for the second time in a year with a 40p increase to a minimum of £10.50 outside the M25 and £11.95 in London, a rise of at least 3.5%. Tesco and sandwich chain Pret a Manger have twice increased workers’ pay in the past year, while Asda increased pay to £10.10 an hour in July after unions criticized it for lagging behind rival chains , with a rate of £9.66 introduced in April. .
