Emma Cooke of Herbert Smith Freehills, a British Land customer at Broadgate, talks about how the real Living Wage changes lives and her hopes for a fairer future, working in partnership with British Land and other employers at Broadgate.

Paying a fair wage for a fair day’s work

The real Living Wage is based on how much people need to live – paying a fair wage for a fair day’s work. When you do the maths, particularly in a city like London where rent and travel costs are high, the Government’s National Living Wage doesn’t go far enough.

Over the summer, we asked our cleaning and catering teams for their views on the real Living Wage, as they were directly affected by our decision to become a Living Wage Employer back in 2012. They talked about how it gives them a better quality of life compared to friends and family working in different companies on lower wages, who work longer hours and take on multiple jobs to make ends meet. One colleague summed it up as meaning he has a better quality of life, feels more motivated and enjoys more time with his family.

For our Cleaning and Catering Managers, paying the real Living Wage helps attract high quality people and create a dynamic, work-focused environment. It shows people that they’re important and valued. Colleagues I’ve spoken with across our business are also proud that we’re an Accredited Living Wage Employer and when clients ask us whether we’re doing it, we’re happy to say ‘absolutely’.

Getting to this human level shone a light for us

Herbert Smith Freehills gained accreditation in the first year of the Living Wage campaign. This meant committing to pay the real Living Wage to all our directly employed staff and contractors. Before then, I’d assumed that everyone was being paid enough. For most of our directly employed staff that was the case, but it was a different story for our cleaning and catering teams, who a lot of people wouldn’t even realise aren’t directly employed by us.

Traditionally, when we negotiated contracts, we would have looked at the overall price, but not at how much individuals were being paid. Getting to this human level shone a light for us. Whether someone’s a direct employee or a contractor in our offices, they’re still part of our family, important in the day-to-day life of our business.

When you think about it in terms of “shall we make sure our cleaners are paid enough that they can travel to work and don’t have to work three jobs?”, most people would agree. It was easy to get approval to make the change and we quickly made it happen, supported by our senior management, procurement, facilities and human resources teams. We also opted to pay the real Living Wage to apprentices, interns and people on longer work placements, exceeding the accreditation requirements.

Together, we have the power to change lives

We’re always looking to go a step further. I’m particularly excited about opportunities we’re exploring with British Land to bring together employers at Broadgate to make a bigger difference.

As a British Land campus, Broadgate is already an Accredited Living Wage Employer, which means that the building teams, cleaners, engineers, receptionists and security officers who British Land contracts are all paid at least the real Living Wage. But what about people working for occupiers in each building?

By bringing people together, we have the power to change lives. In-work poverty is massive in the UK and has been rising. People not being paid a fair wage is one of the root causes of that and it’s something we can fix. This isn’t about handouts or charity. Hopefully, one day the Living Wage Foundation won’t be needed at all, a real Living Wage will simply be ‘the wage’.

Emma Cooke is Head of Citizenship at Herbert Smith Freehills

All three of British Land’s London campuses – Broadgate, Paddington Central and Regent’s Place – are Accredited Living Wage Employers. This means that all British Land employees and contractors working there are paid at least the Living Wage.