Jersey Finance, the finance industry’s promotional body, has signed up to the Jersey Living Wage.
Along with Affinity Private Wealth and Stonehage Fleming, they are the first firms in Jersey’s finance industry to make the commitment to be Living Wage employers.
Living wage rates take into account the cost of living, taxes and the value of benefits available to working families on low incomes. Its aim is to make sure that, on average, a worker receiving the living wage rate, topped up by in-work benefits, is able to meet basic living costs. The Living Wage for Jersey is designed to cover essentials like housing, food and transport.
Joe Moynihan, Chief Executive, Jersey Finance said: “I am delighted that Jersey Finance has signed up to the Living Wage. As the representative body of Jersey’s finance industry, we recognise that employees in the finance industry enjoy good salaries and benefits – our focus here is to ensure that our regular suppliers such as our cleaners working with us in our offices receive the Living Wage for their work.
“It is very pleasing to see other finance firms such as Affinity Private Wealth and Stonehage Fleming receiving the same accreditation. We would encourage all employers in the finance industry to demonstrate that our industry supports fair and decent working practices to help our entire community to thrive and to play their part in supporting Jersey’s economic recovery.”
Ian Crosby, Chair of the Jersey Office, Stonehage Fleming said: “We at Stonehage Fleming are very pleased to be Living Wage employers. We are always thinking of ways to do business better. Staff well-being, sustainability, engagement with the local community and supporting our suppliers and their staff are important to us.
“They are also important to our clients and those people we are looking to recruit. We see this increasingly among the younger generations. We hope to see many more of our friends within the finance industry sign up to become Living Wage employers. It is good for the industry and good for the Island”.
Also commenting on the accreditation, Julia Warrander, Group Director, Affinity said: “Paying the living wage is quite simply the right thing to do and is entirely aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goal 8, namely ‘decent work and economic growth’. As a society, we need to ensure more equality in the distribution of income. Companies must consider all their stakeholders, including employees and suppliers and this accreditation demonstrates our commitment to this”.
Caritas Jersey has been licensed by the Living Wage Foundation in the UK to manage and co- ordinate the promotion of a ‘Living Wage’ in Jersey.
The Jersey Living Wage Campaign TeamLeader, Jennifer Bridge, said: “We are delighted that Jersey Finance, Affinity Private Wealth and Stonehage Fleming have signed up to be Living Wage employers. The finance industry has an important role to play in eradicating poverty and reducing inequality in Jersey. Its impact goes beyond those directly employed in finance, where salaries have traditionally been good.
“The Living Wage campaign is focusing on lifting the wages of cleaners, security guards and other staff of outsourced services which are not directly employed by the industry and where the Living Wage is not so common. We know that there is a growing appetite in Jersey to do business ethically and do it well. Now that we have a number of finance businesses behind the campaign, we hope that others will shortly follow suit”.
