LIDL REWARDS COLLEAGUES WITH £37 MILLION PAY INVESTMENT

• Lidl GB store and warehouse colleagues to receive highest hourly pay rates in the sector as discounter announces pay boost, with colleagues earning up to £13.85 an hour
• The £37m investment includes increases for salaried colleagues, along with new bank holiday premiums and optimised nightshift premiums
• The move comes after a strong Christmas trading period for the discounter and marks its third pay increase for store and warehouse colleagues in the last 12 months
• Update also follows Lidl’s introduction of sector-leading maternity and adoption pay this month

  23 January 2024: Lidl GB has announced its latest investment into pay, which will see its 26,000 hourly-paid colleagues receive the highest rates of pay in the sector.

From 1st March, the discounter’s entry level rates will increase from £11.40 to £12.00 outside of the M25, rising to £13.00 with length of service. Meanwhile, those working within the M25 will see pay rates rise from £12.85 to £13.55, increasing to £13.85 over time. These new entry level rates will be up to 17% higher than the National Minimum Wage being introduced in April.

The move represents an investment of over £37 million and includes increases for salaried colleagues across the business.

The discounter is also introducing a bank holiday premium of £2.00 per hour and will enhance its nightshift premium to £3.50 per hour, whilst also extending the timeframe in which it is payable by one hour.

Today’s updates bring Lidl’s total investment in pay over the past 12 months to almost £60 million. On top of this, Lidl is the only discounter to reward colleagues with an employee discount (10%), which carries a value of up to £600 per person, equating to an investment of around £20 million a year.

The investment follows record trading and market share gains over the Christmas period for Lidl, with sales growing +12% YoY in the four weeks ending 24th December 2023.¹ The discounter also won £116 million of customer spend from competitors over the festive period and was the only supermarket to win spend from every grocer.²

Ryan McDonnell, CEO at Lidl GB, commented: “Customers are switching to Lidl from every other supermarket, and it’s our colleagues’ commitment and performance that is making this happen. It’s only right, therefore, that we thank them for their incredible work and reward them for their efforts. Investing in our people is vital as we set our sights further on increasing our market share and bringing our high quality, great value products to even more households.”

Stephanie Rogers, Chief Human Resources Officer at Lidl GB, added: “Offering competitive pay and being a great place to work for our colleagues is crucial to our success. This has always been central to our strategy, ever since opening our doors almost 30 years ago.  I’m pleased that we are continuing to hold ourselves to our high standards and to reward colleagues with the highest rates of pay in the sector.”

As well as competitive pay and colleague discount, Lidl GB also offers colleagues a raft of benefits including its sector leading Maternity and Adoption pay (28 weeks), introduced this month along with paid leave for fertility treatment and pregnancy loss. Further entitlements include enhanced holiday entitlement, life assurance and optional health and dental insurance.

Those interested in working at Lidl GB can view available roles on its careers website: https://careers.lidl.co.uk/.

ENDS

Notes to Editors 

[1] Lidl data, turnover YoY, 4 weeks w/e 24th Dec. 2023

[2] Kantar Worldpanel

About Lidl GB

Since establishing itself in Great Britain in 1994, Lidl GB has experienced continuous growth and today has over 31,000 employees, over 960 stores and 14 distribution centres in England, Scotland and Wales.

As part of the Schwarz retail group, Lidl is one of Europe’s leading organisations in the food retail industry. The supermarket, which has more than 376,000 employees globally, currently operates approximately 12,200 stores and more than 220 logistics centres and warehouses in 31 countries.

The supermarket takes pride in providing its customers with the highest quality products at the lowest possible prices throughout Great Britain, from Kirkwall to the Isle of Wight.

Social responsibility and sustainability are at the core of the company‘s daily operations, with the company placing a strong emphasis on its responsibility for people, society, and the environment. Lidl GB is passionate about working with British producers and sources two thirds of its products from British suppliers.

The Schwarz Group, which operates worldwide as a retail group, generated a total revenue of €154.1 billion in the financial year 2022.