Last month we decided to register as a Living Wage employer. It was one of those when I get round to it things that I manged to finally get round to doing. I’ve never really been one for collecting badges (I do like this badge though) but I thought, maybe if I register and promote the Living Wage, one or two other companies or organisations will join.

We’ve paid a living wage (as defined by an independent body and not a Government) for as long as I can remember for a couple of reasons. If you pay a good wage you get good people and if someone is willing to give up 8 hours of their day, paying them a wage they can live on seems to be the very least an employer should do.

Events living wage employer

By joining the movement our little company joining has the potential to have a wider impact. From now we will be asking all of our suppliers and partners if they pay a living wage. This will include hotels and venues. It will be interesting to see how this impacts our decisions (there are currently only seven venues in London with accreditation).

We’ve been lucky enough to be able to pay our freelancers and our full-time staff well. We have always ensured that if you work at a Gallus Event you are paid (for the reasons above). This of course includes the few students who have turned up at our events and earned a £100 or so, while, hopefully learning and gaining experience at events. I have to stress that I don’t believe that one should come without the other: I see no reason not to pay someone because they are learning or gaining experience. 

So here we are as a registered and official living wage employer along with forty or so other companies from the event industry. Why not have a look at the map and the Living Wage website and help grow that number!

The UK map of Living Wage employers “events” category