Lindsay & Gilmour has announced their accreditation as a Living Wage employer. This important step reflects their ongoing commitment to being the community pharmacy employer of choice in Scotland.
It also reinforces one of their five core values as a business, to CARE for every customer and colleague in their team. This means they prioritise putting their people first, by caring for their colleagues, customers, and communities.
The Living Wage commitment will see every Lindsay & Gilmour employee receive a minimum hourly wage of £9.90 per hour – significantly higher than the government minimum for over 23s, which currently stands at £9.50 per hour (from 1 April 2022).
The real Living Wage is the only UK wage rate calculated according to the costs of living. In Scotland, more than 14% of all jobs pay less than the real Living Wage – around 330,000 jobs. Despite this, Lindsay & Gilmour has committed to pay the real Living Wage and deliver a fair day’s pay for a hard day’s work.
Lindsay & Gilmour MD and Superintendent Pharmacist Philip Galt said: “At Lindsay & Gilmour, we have always worked hard to attract the very best pharmacy team professionals to work across our company. We are a family business at heart and understand the importance of nurturing our colleagues and making them feel valued for the work they do to serve the health needs of our communities. Therefore, becoming an accredited Living Wage employer is a crucial way to show our commitment to rewarding all of our employees fairly for the contribution they make.”
Since 2011, the Living Wage movement has delivered a pay rise to over 55,000 people in Scotland and put over £310 million extra into the pockets of low paid Scottish workers.
Peter Kelly, Director of The Poverty Alliance said: “We all need an income that is enough to cover our needs and protect us from poverty, and it’s only right that employers pay a wage that reflects the cost of living. Too many workers in Scotland are paid less than the real Living Wage and, at a time of rising costs, are struggling to stay afloat. The real Living Wage can offer protection from those rising costs.”
“Congratulations to Lindsay & Gilmour on their Living Wage commitment, and I hope more organisations follow their lead by becoming Living Wage accredited.”
Gail Irvine, Living Wage Scotland Manager said: “We’re delighted that Lindsay & Gilmour has become an accredited Living Wage employer. They join a growing movement of over 2700 employers in Scotland who together want to ensure workers have what they need to thrive.
Our Living Wage employer network includes lots of smaller employers as well as larger and iconic brands like SSE, abrdn, Barrs, Mackie’s of Scotland, & D.C. Thomson. We hope to see many more employers following their example.”