A campaign to get more financial and professional services businesses in the Square Mile signing up to pay staff the London Living Wage (LLW) has been hailed a success.
The City of London Corporation decided to take the message to workers and bosses and hired poster space at nine Underground stations to catch their attention. It spent £60,270 on 17 posters featuring Stock Market ticker tape.
The aim was to encourage more companies to sign up to become an accredited London Living Wage employer, which means all staff and contractors such as cleaning and catering staff earn a minimum £10.55 an hour. The Square Mile supports 273,000 jobs in the financial and professional services sector across 9,400 firms. So far, more than 100 have signed up to the LLW and the Corporation hoped to get more to pledge their support.
Vice chairman of the City’s policy and resources committee, Chris Hayward, who launched the campaign at the Museum of London, said it was shocking that a fifth of people working in the Capital do not earn a wage they can live on, with some having to go to food banks to make ends meet.
The Corporation became a LLW employer in 2014. Fourteen companies asked about signing up during the fortnight campaign earlier this spring – an increase of 33% more inquiries from the Square Mile over the previous fortnight.
Holborn-based Cielo Talent Management is now fully accredited, following the campaign, said the Corporation.
A report said the posters were seen by 1.3million commuters, while 3.8m caught the social media campaign in its first two weeks, making it “one of the widest reaching” campaigns staged by the Corporation. Five LLW employers who also backed the scheme helped boost the campaign.
Insurance giant Aviva displayed posters at its HQ which were seen by 2,700 employees, with a further 20,000 reached in their regional offices and an estimated 25,000 passers-by influenced, said a report.
