Bakery staff are celebrating after being given an inflation-busting rise to put them on the Living Wage.
Directors at the Village Bakery revealed the decision will cost the company an extra £120,000 in wages every year.
A change in shift patterns at the family firm’s two bakeries on Wrexham Industrial Estate means employees will also be working fewer hours.
As a result, the minimum rate at the bakeries is going to £7.65 an hour which is the current rate for the Living Wage.
The company is planning a similar move at its bakery in Minera in September after a number of improvements are made.
The decision has been praised by Wrexham AM Lesley Griffiths, who is also the Minister for Local Government and Government Business.
The living wage is based on the amount an individual needs to earn to cover the basic costs of living.
The voluntary benchmark is set by the Centre for Research in Social Policy at Loughborough University.
Ms Griffiths said: “I am pleased the Village Bakery has become a Living Wage employer. There is considerable difference between the minimum wage and the living wage so the increase in pay promotes fairness and will no doubt make a difference to the workforce, many of which are based in Wrexham.”
“The recent achievements of the Village Bakery are unparalleled and the company is one of the fastest growing in Wales. Adopting the Living Wage is reward for the hardworking and dedicated staff who have all played a major role in the company’s success.”
Among the delighted employees at the Village Bakery is production operative Kieron Roberts, 30, from Wrexham, who’s been there for three years.
He said: “Obviously I’m happy that my wage is going up and I’m also happy with the shifts.
“It’s four days on and four days off so we’ll have a lot more time to ourselves and for families, partners.
“I do mixed martial arts. I enjoy going to the gym and things like that and the new shift pattern is going to help me doing more of what I enjoy to do.”
Father-of-three and grandfather-of-eight Roy Thompson, 53, has been with the Village Bakery for four years.
He said: “It’s a good place to work and I was very pleased to hear about the pay increase.
“It’s more money in the bank to spoil the grandchildren and I love my holidays so this is great.”
Managing Director Robin Jones explained: “It is our way of saying thank you to the workforce for all their hard work.
“It recognises the effort they put in and their skills and their abilities and also moving forward if we want to keep and develop our staff.
“We’ll review the situation again in six months, along with the net rise in the living wage.
“This is a big investment for us as a company because it’s adding £120,000 to the wage bill.
“We’re great at investing the latest European machinery or innovation and it’s easy to forget the people who make everything work
“Our staff are an important ingredient in our success and we felt it was time to give something back to them.”
It was a sentiment echoed by Operations Manager Simon Thorpe.
He said: “We’re looking to move to a four on, four off shift patterns at the same time as introducing the living wage.
“The end result of that is that people’s basic rate goes up and the number of hours we’re requiring them to be in goes down.
“Essentially, it means our staff are being paid more to do fewer hours overall.
“We’ve got a commitment to staff as stakeholders within the business just as much as we are.
“This part of our drive to attract the very best people and to reward and develop the people that we have already so we can work with them to build the business.”
