Lloyds Banking Group Plc is to give its staff a £1,000 cost of living cash boost.
It is understood that the one-off payment will appear in the August salaries of some 64,182 members of staff, with only execs and senior bosses set to miss out.
According to a memo seen by Sky News, staff were told: ‘As the rising cost of living continues to impact our people and our customers we’ve been assessing the evolving outlook for inflation and considering how we can support you even further.
‘With that in mind, I wanted to let you know we’ll be making a one-off payment of £1,000 to all our people in grades A – G which you’ll receive in your August pay.
‘This support is designed to help you during these uncertain economic times and is in addition to the steps we’ve already taken to increase the support available both to you and our customers.’
The news that the country’s largest domestic lender has opted to award staff with a cash giveaway will alarm Bank of England chiefs. Last month, the bank’s governor Andrew Bailey urged workers not to seek pay rises this year, pointing to outside forces such food and fuel prices as key factors in rising inflation.
However, despite this some major brands have opted to innovate in this space, with Brewdog and THG handing staff the opportunity to own a portion of the business through share incentives.
The Workers Union Says…
Only a fool would suggest that working people are on easy street at the moment. Prices are high, wages are stagnant and some sectors of the economy are rife with insecure working practices. Against this backdrop, any efforts to ameliorate the effects of inflation must be applauded.
So it is with cautious optimism that we welcome Lloyds’ decision to pay their workers a cost of living bonus. Some will see this as entirely justified – and not just because of the ongoing struggle to pay mortgages and put food on the table. Lloyds, they will argue, already make serious profits and were one of the main beneficiaries of government money during the banking crisis. It’s only right and proper that execs should dip into the kitty and help out their staff.
While this argument has merit, it disregards the inconvenient truth that Lloyds did not have to offer their staff anything. And while there are justifiable concerns that relief payments such as this will increase costs and drive inflation to new heights, it should be noted that banks are amongst the coterie of institutions most able to absorb the extra spend.
For other businesses, the route map to aiding staff may not be so easy to navigate. But that does not excuse them from trying. This organisation has long campaigned for UK plc to help workers accommodate the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune by offering progressive solutions to problems. Some ideas might centre on extended working from home to reduce commuting costs. Some might simply be about offering the occasional meal voucher.
And while not every business will be able to settle £1,000 on its employees, most have it within their power to provide some kind of relief. So it is time to roll out this idea as a point of principle and back our brilliant workers now.
