Lidl to spend €15m on giving Irish staff 6% pay hike

Grocery retailer Lidl has announced a €15 million investment in pay increases for its workforce in the Republic and a further £3 million to boost the wages of its staff in Northern Ireland.

The investment will result in every Lidl employee benefiting from an approximate 6 per cent pay rise, equal to, on average, €2,000 additional per employee annually, the company said.

The retailer said the increases, which apply from March 1st, make Lidl the highest-paying supermarket in Ireland.

“Navigating the changing face of retail against the backdrop of rising cost-of-living, climate crisis and the impact of global geopolitical events has been no easy feat, which is why now more than ever it is vital for us to continue to prioritise our people – an investment we will never compromise on”, Maeve McCleane, chief people officer at Lidl Ireland and Northern Ireland said.

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“We have a strong commitment to our customers to offer them the best value in the market and our people are key for us to deliver on that promise,” she said.

Lidl has invested €32 million in pay rises for employees in the Republic with employees benefiting from an approximate 13.5 per cent increase since February 2023.

The German-owned discounter was the first retailer to commit to paying the new living wage rate of €14.80 as recommended by the Living Wage Technical Group in October 2023. It was also the first company in Ireland to adopt the Living Wage recommendation in 2015.

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“We are proud to reward the hard work and dedication of our employees by investing €32 million in pay rises over the last 12 months impacting every employee in the business and making Lidl the highest paying supermarket on the island,” Ms McCleane.

A report last year indicated Lidl Ireland spent €1 billion on goods from the Irish agri-food industry in 2022, with almost a third of that exported to shops outside the company’s Irish network.

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