Lidl to increase pay of Irish based employees by 6%

Lidl is to increase the pay of its workers in the Republic and Northern Ireland by around 6%.

All employees are to benefit from the increase, which kicked in from March 1.

The German supermarket chain says the rise will result in every employee earning an additional €2,000 a year on average.

It claims the move will cost €15m a year to deliver the increase for workers in the Republic of Ireland and £3m for its Northern Ireland staff.

“We are proud to reward the hard work and dedication of our employees by investing €32m in pay rises over the last 12 months impacting every employee in the business and making Lidl the highest paying supermarket on the island,” said Maeve McCleane, Chief People Officer at Lidl Ireland & Northern Ireland.

Lidl claims to have been the first company in Ireland to adopt the Living Wage recommendation in 2015 and the first retailer to commit to paying the new Living Wage rate of €14.80 as recommended by the Living Wage Technical Group in October last year.

The company employs 6,000 people here and operates 179 stores, as well as three regional distribution centres in and a head office.

The move is likely to put pressure on other supermarket chains to follow suit, as competition for staff remains high in the tight labour market.