Three to pay staff living wage minimum of €13.85 an hour

Three Ireland is to pay employees a minimum hourly rate of €13.85 an hour as recommended by the Living Wage Technical Group.

The telco said it would introduce a minimum pay rate increase of 17.4 per cent for staff on the bottom rung, starting next year, lifting all employees currently on €23,000 per annum to more than €27,000.

The main beneficiaries of the increase are in retail and customer service segments of the company, it said. This gives employees on minimum pay a salary increase of 35 per cent since 2021, it said.

The company, which employs 1,400 people in Ireland, also confirmed it is making a one-off €500 cost-of-living payment to employees earning €35,000 or less “in recognition of the current cost of living challenges”.

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Mark Redmond, chief people officer at Three Ireland and Three UK, said: “Investing in our people is a key business strategy of ours. Our people are central to our success and we have a responsibility to support them.

“In recognition of this and of the incredible work our people do, we are pleased to commit to the hourly rate of €13.85 as recommended by the Living Wage Technical Group for 2023. This is a 35 per cent increase from our 2021 hourly rate of €10.20,” he said.

“Furthermore, we are cognisant of the current cost-of-living challenges and we are supporting our employees earning €35,000 or below through a one-off voucher worth €500,” he said.

In July, Three announced a strong expansion of its operations at its Limerick customer experience centre, with the creation of 175 new jobs over the next four years as the Irish office begins to export services to Three UK business customers for the first time.