I’m so excited to hear chatter from my Lushie friends that LUSH will be paying ALL it’s UK staff Living Wage! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaasssss!
Though I’ve left the company, the pay issue in Lush is something I was deeply invested in, and when I left last year, I honestly hoped that one day, through internal activism, discussion, and budgeting from on-high, that this would come about.
And it finally has! ❤
Last year, the issues around the low pay for UK retail staff reached a boiling point for employees, as living costs, and rent prices, especially where I was in Oxford, reached an unbearable level. Older staff, those with children, or just regular people who were living in house-shares and paying their own rent, found themselves unable to work in the company and support themselves. I personally struggled on my managerial wage, sharing a flat with my partner. In my own shop we had an abundance of young employees who lived with their parents, and students who received student loans. The diversity in our shop wasn’t really good enough, in many ways.
Talks were clearly already going on up in Head Office (likely they have been for years) and, as pressure mounted, those talks came to one small pay rise early last year, then another small pay rise later on in the year, and now…
£8.45 for retail sales assistants, with an extra £1 on top of that for Supervisors!
This is opposed to the previous £7.40 for sales assistants and £7.80 for Supervisors. I was a Trainee Manager on £8.80 (ish) and so it’s likely that Managerial salaries have gone up, too. Such good news!
I’m honestly so pleased that LUSH has taken this ethical step for its staff, as I understand that an ethical company has to think about balancing its costs a lot more than unethical companies who turn a huge profit without the expenses of charitable giving, in-depth training, and ethical sourcing.
The staff in LUSH work so, so hard. I know from experience the intense training, energy, and positivity that goes into being a sales assistant, a supervisor, a manager, there. And I know that this has always been rewarded by the company through discounts, experiences, and, generally, a close eye on staff well-being. But, I’m delighted to see employees finally being rewarded financially, so they can live and work with genuine positive energy without worrying about whether they have enough money to live. Well done, LUSH.
Pssst. Did you guys also know that LUSH has ditched dairy recently, too?
A Vegan Adventurer 