We are an accredited Living Wage Foundation employer, and anyone that works with us gets paid above the London Living Wage regardless of their age, experience, contract type or any other factor typically used by employers to justify paying less than it is feasible to live on.
We hope that more of the industry will also pledge to become Living Wage and London Living Wage Employers, and we invite others to follow this example. Very few employers in the cycling industry are currently Living Wage Employers, a lot are paying substantially less than the retail industry as a whole, even though working in a bike shop requires much more specialist knowledge, experience and training than a lot of retail businesses.
We have all spent many years in the cycling industry, earning wages that are immoral and that we would argue should be criminal. There is no excuse for paying your employees or anyone that works for you less than it is possible to live on.
Your employees make the business what it is, and if you have to pay them anything less than a living wage then your business plan is fundamentally flawed.
Next time you purchase something from a major high-street cycling retailer, consider whether you are supporting companies that pay their staff wages that are well below Living Wage, with the sole focus being quarterly shareholder profits.
Next time you purchase something from an independent cycling retailer who has multiple employees and who are not a Living Wage employer, consider whether you are supporting a bad business plan or greed.
This is our fundamental and unwavering belief and we invite other shops and the whole cycling industry to follow suit. It is well overdue and behind the times compared to other retailers.
For more information on the Living Wage Foundation, please click on this link.
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