VOCA Telemarketing, an Irvine based contact centre outsourcer, have announced today it is the first stand-alone contact centre business in Britain to offer all employees the voluntary Living Wage. This follows its accreditation from The Poverty Alliance in Scotland on behalf of the Living Wage Foundation.
All VOCA Telemarketing’s employees, regardless of age, will see their hourly pay rise to £8.25 from the 1st January next year.
Jane Thomson, 23, a Telemarketing Operative at VOCA, said: “This is great news, like an early Christmas present! Before joining VOCA I was in and out of work for some time. I now have job security, career prospects and a fair wage which gives me a real sense of purpose.”
With almost half of the current workforce at the Irvine-based contact centre in the 18-24 age bracket, offering the voluntary Living Wage is seen by the company and staff as a considerably fairer deal than the Government’s ‘over 25s only’ National Living Wage premium of £7.20 per hour coming into force from next April.
“We are very pleased to be the first call centre business in Britain to be offering all staff the voluntary Living Wage,” said Victoria Edwards, Managing Director, VOCA Telemarketing Ltd.
“All our employees, regardless of age, will receive at a minimum around 25% more per hour than those in companies still paying the National Minimum Wage.”
Victoria Edwards added: “We hope our latest pay initiative sets the trend for the call centre industry as a whole where a large proportion of workers are under 25. It is the morally and socially right course for employers to follow and together with good training will deliver staff productivity, retention and recruitment benefits.”
Currently employing around 70 staff, mostly from in and around Ayrshire, the company is looking to create 45 more jobs during January and February.
Employees at the ISO 9001 company receive a permanent employment contract, ongoing training and mentoring, regular appraisals, and are able to substantially boost their pay through an uncapped sales bonus scheme.
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