Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 18th April 2024 Issue no. 1110

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Brayborne Facilities Services demonstrates sector leadership by making commitment to Living Wage

Brayborne Facilities Services has demonstrated sector leadership by making a commitment to the Living Wage for its staff and becoming a Recognised Service Provider. In a sector that has often seen poor pay and conditions, Brayborne is actively securing the support of all its clients to meet its objectives in paying a fair wage for a fair day's work.

The Living Wage campaign has been running for nearly 10 years and has lifted over 45,000 people out of poverty.

Set independently and updated annually, it commits companies to an hourly rate of pay based on the cost of living in the UK and is currently set at £7.85 an hour in the Thames Valley area.

Brayborne is one of the leading contract cleaning and facilities services companies in the south-east of England with all staff employed directly and working on major contracts in offices, shopping centres, schools and colleges. As a Recognised Service Provider working with the Living Wage Foundation, Brayborne is one of over 850 responsible employers in the UK that are working towards raising the living standards of people who are on the low paid threshold.

"Our employees work extremely hard and we believe that their pay should reflect this," says Mairi Berryman, commercial director at Brayborne Facilities Services. "We already have terms of employment for our staff that are some of the best in the industry and as a result our staff retention is high and there is reduced absenteeism - happy employees work better and are prepared to go the extra mile. The benefits are then seen clearly by our clients."

Boehringer Ingelheim, a leading pharmaceutical company based in Bracknell, is one of the first of Brayborne's clients to support the LivingWage objectives. The company's head of general services, Tom Ryan, comments: "I'm proud that Boehringer Ingelheim is supporting the Living Wage. We recognise that we have a strong reliable team of hard working staff from Brayborne who deliver a very high standard of service every day, and we felt it fair to recognise this valuable contribution through increased wage rates. Staff were delighted to hear this and they are now amongst the highest paid cleaning operatives in Bracknell."

A GP practice in Basingstoke, Oakley & Overton Partnership, has awarded a new cleaning contract to Brayborne and agreed to pay a Living Wage to staff. Sally Bown, practice manager, notes: "Previously our cleaning operatives had been paid the minimum wage of £6.50 per hour, but on discussion with Brayborne we appreciated the importance of a rise to a fairer rate and have agreed to pay the Living Wage."

Brayborne submitted two quotations at competitive and Living Wage rates - the other costs of the contract remained the same in both.

As part of its commitment to the Living Wage, Brayborne will now provide two quotes for all tenders. The client will decide which wage rate to pay but will always understand the difference and the reasons and the importance of rewarding hardworking staff fairly for the high level of service that Brayborne provides.

Mairi continues: "We are delighted to uplift the wage for our conscientious staff to a much fairer living wage. Many more employees in the industry deserve the same consideration."

T: 01189789428
W: www.brayborne.co.uk
To find out more about becoming an accredited Living Wage Employer, or to work together with the Living Wage Foundation as a Recognised Service Provider, visit:
www.livingwage.org.uk

2nd July 2015