Wilko Continues To Pay Full Sick Pay; Announces Additional Package For Vulnerable Staff

As a high street retailer with strong family values, wilko has been caring for its team members and customers through both the good and bad times for 90 years. There’s been considerable misinformation recently regarding our approach to sick pay and we’d like to set the record straight about how we’re supporting our team members through these difficult times. 

Wilko has paid Company Sick Pay to team members absent with COVID-19 since the beginning of the outbreak and continues to do so. This is over and above Statutory Sick Pay. Regrettably, misuse of our absence policy has been present in some parts of our business for a long time and remains a significant challenge for us. We had planned to implement a change in April to address this misuse however we appreciate now is not the time. So, those changes will now be introduced in September. 

In addition, to further illustrate the depth of care we’re offering our team members, we’re introducing an enhanced package of support for our most vulnerable team members. Those who are over 70 years old, are pregnant or those classed by the Government as extremely vulnerable and who need to self-isolate are guaranteed full pay over the next 12 weeks.  Also, we’re classing COVID-19 as an exceptional absence and currently treating the need for self-isolation for 7 or 14 days as paid absence, in accordance with the Government guidelines. 

We’re saddened to see people who don’t know the extent of care we’re offering our team members asking people to ‘block wilko’. This is irresponsible at a time when our loyal and hardworking team members are pulling out all the stops to ensure families across the UK can buy the essentials they need for their homes during these extraordinarily challenging times.  We think we should all be supporting each other and sticking together.

Source : Wilko

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