London - one of the greatest, but most expensive cities in the world.
Despite being a destination for keen job seekers looking for opportunities to build a career, being able to live and work here isn’t necessarily a life everyone can afford.
With a passionate focus on diversity and inclusion within our organisation, becoming a Living Wage Foundation accredited employer was a natural step for the ABI. We’re committed to paying our staff, and contractors who work with the ABI on a regular basis, a wage that facilitates a reasonable standard of living - a wage that reflects the true cost of living, and thriving, in our City.
For us, it’s a practice we’ve had in place for people directly employed by the ABI for quite some time. So, if we’re doing it anyway, why is the Accreditation so important to us?
From a personal perspective, as the Head of HR, I feel it’s an important standard for an organisation to set itself to send the right message to both existing staff and potential talent in the market about the type of organisation that we are. Living Wage Foundation research shows that 93% of students want to work for employers who pay the living wage. To be an attractive employer, we have to let them know that we align with their values. It’s not enough to be paying a Living Wage as part of our normal day-to-day business, we’ve got to get the message out there that it’s something we care about too.
We really believe that this is an important social campaign. Our ethos is to ‘make a real difference for our members and their customers’ through the work that we do and becoming accredited marries with that vision. As the trade association representing the insurance and long-term savings industry, we believe that we have a responsibility to set an example. We want to encourage others to sign up and join a movement that is already well supported by many of our member companies.
We know that in order to be a truly inclusive employer, we have a duty to do our best to support people who want to move to London to work with us. Becoming London Living Wage accredited is just one step in that journey.
If you share our ethos and would like more information on how you can join us, head to our careers site or contact us at [email protected].