Many of the employees at Duncan-based Buckerfields含羞草研究社� stores in B.C. are getting raises.

Buckerfields has announced that, as of Sept. 2, all its full-time staff at its eight stores on Vancouver Island and in the Lower Mainland, Okanagan and Shuswap will be paid according to a 含羞草研究社渓iving wage含羞草研究社� scale.

A living wage is a standard of pay based on actual living costs in a given region.

Social Planning Cowichan recently released its living wage for the Cowichan Valley for 2017.

According to the SPC, the living wage of a typical family of four, with two parents and two children, in the Cowichan Valley is $19.05 per hour

And that含羞草研究社檚 with both parents working for that wage at 35 hours a week each.

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The province含羞草研究社檚 minimum wage is currently set at $10.85 an hour, but will increase to $11.35 an hour as of Sept. 15.

Buckerfields含羞草研究社� CEO Kelvin McCulloch said that by comparison, Buckerfields lowest regional 含羞草研究社榣iving wage含羞草研究社� after one year of full-time employment is now $16.73 per hour, plus an additional $1.69 in living costs paid through the company含羞草研究社檚 benefits program.

He said part-time employees start at $14.75 per hour and all pay rates are expected to increase annually according to the BC Consumer Price Index.

McCulloch said Buckerfields employees also participate in the company含羞草研究社檚 $1 dollar per hour Sales Bonus program, the Employee Discount program for store purchases and the company supplies various work wear, safety items and pet food to employees free of charge.

He said the company has been working on developing a consistent pay scale across all the stores since 2005.

含羞草研究社淔irst, we had to build up the company so the pay scale was actually affordable,含羞草研究社� he said.

含羞草研究社淓very year we increased and levelled wages as much as possible. This year we hit upon the concept of the living wage. We realized it was the right thing to do and we could do it. Notices of pay increases went out to store employees in the last week of August.含羞草研究社�

McCulloch said he expects the wage increase will see the company含羞草研究社檚 expenses for employees rise by approximately 10 per cent a year; but it含羞草研究社檚 worth it.

含羞草研究社淲e have senior people who have been working for Buckerfields for 20 to 25 years who are excellent customer service people and are really ambassadors for the company, and they should be paid accordingly,含羞草研究社� he said.

含羞草研究社淚t含羞草研究社檚 also a fact that we含羞草研究社檙e beginning to have trouble finding good new people to work for us. The baby-boom bulge is now almost over and the labour market is getting tight. We want to be competitive and get the best people who will want to stay with us a long time. In the end, it will save the company money because we won含羞草研究社檛 have to start over every time an employee moves on.含羞草研究社�