Jones Village Bakery has pledged to pay school leavers £12.60 an hour – more than £5 above the National Minimum Wage for their age.
The Wrexham-based manufacturer is giving teens the adult rate of the Real Living Wage rather than the £7.55 16-year-old National Minimum Wage rate, which it said will add up to an extra £10,000 a year for 16-year-olds.
Jones Village Bakery, which expects to have 50 jobs up for grabs in the next two months and another 50 in the New Year, said investing in young people had been a key factor in its success.
The business recently announced a £47m investment on a new production line and conversion of a storage facility into a new bakery, which would create 150 jobs.
“We’re always looking for the next generation of talent and if we expect them to come in and work hard, then it’s right that we reward them properly,” said CEO Simon Thorpe.
“Everybody doing an adult job deserves an adult wage. If you work hard you can expect to be looked after by the business.”
Jones Village Bakery highlighted the success of two of its young staff – 19-year-old machine operator Josh Williams and 20-year-old technologist Tilly Squire.
Williams joined four years ago and was aware of the business because his dad also works there.
“I was doing car mechanics at Coleg Cambria but I wasn’t really enjoying it and I was lucky to get a job here and I’m really enjoying it,” he explains. “I’ve referred six of my friends to work here and my sister, Leah, started here last week.”
Squire, who works in the new product development team, joined straight from school as a 16-year-old after opting not to go to college but to continue learning while still being paid.
“I never thought I would achieve what I have done,” she says. “I started in production and then I was chosen to go on the apprenticeship scheme and I joined the new product development team from there.”
No comments yet