Dundee University Student’s Association (DUSA) is celebrating being one of around 9000 UK Living Wage employers during National Living Wage week.
The Living Wage commitment ensures that everyone working at DUSA, regardless of whether they are permanent or part-time employees receive a minimum hourly wage of £9.50 – significantly higher than the national minimum wage.
The Living Wage is an hourly rate set independently and updated annually. The Living Wage is calculated according to the basic cost of living using the ‘Minimum Income Standard’ for the UK. Decisions about what to include in this standard are set by the public; it is a social consensus about what people need to make ends meet.
Our approach has been to heavily invest in our people to position Dundee University Students’ Association as the employer of choice for all permanent and student staff. Despite being closed for much of the pandemic with no trading income, we have fully implemented the living wage since 1st October 2020. This in effect gave a pay rise to the majority of our workforce, immediately improving pay and conditions for 48 permanent members of staff and 60 student staff. We made a strategic decision to use our reserves to do this and to build our financial profile around being a great employer and a great place to work.
The Living Wage gives staff and students more spending power and allows student staff the option to work less hours, so that they have more time to study, socialise and fully participate in University life.
We’re proud of our achievement. We believe our people are our greatest asset. They’re vital to our success, as such they should be rewarded fairly. It’s not the law, it’s voluntary, but we believe it’s the right thing to do. We guarantee that our staff are paid a wage that meets their everyday needs.
The best employers are voluntarily signing up to pay the Living Wage. The Living Wage is a robust calculation that reflects the real cost of living, rewarding a hard day’s work with a fair day’s pay.
We’re proud to pay the real Living Wage as it reflects the importance of DUSA’s front line team members. They bring our purpose and values to life every day from getting students home safe to providing food, drink and activities to thousands of students a year.
Our people are talented, and we’d love them to grow their careers with us. It’s important we do all we can to look after them and encourage them to build a future here.
Nobody should have to choose between putting food on the table or having the heating on. This shouldn’t happen, ever. The rising cost of living and increased energy prices means people are feeling the pinch. Paying a real Living Wage is now more vital than ever.
We’ve largely invested in this initiative to date. We’re proud of this commitment. But it’s not all about pay. We continue to look at ways to support and help our staff and students progress. We provide mentoring, continuous professional development, funding for training and much more to support career development
Find out more about Living Wage Week on the foundation website
NOTE TO EDITORS
For further information or to request interviews, please contact Sarah Craig, Marketing and Communications Manager at scraig@dusa.co.uk