First finance firms make Living Wage commitment

Monday 24 August 2020

Jersey Finance, Affinity Private Wealth and Stonehage Fleming have become the first firms in their industry to commit to becoming Living Wage employers.

That pledge means paying employees in a way that ensures they are able to meet basic living costs by taking into account the cost of living, taxes and the value of benefits available to families on low incomes.

Jersey Finance CEO Joe Moynihan said that, while employees in the sector "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."

He added: "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 Stonehage Fleming's Jersey Office, echoed these calls.

He said that his firm signed up because “staff wellbeing, sustainability, engagement with the local community and supporting our suppliers and their staff”.

“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,” he said.

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. 

Its Living Wage Campaign Team Leader, Jennifer Bridge, commented: “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.”