Pay and benefits
Rates of pay
We pay all colleagues competitive rates for the jobs they hold. Our adult pay rates are in excess of the National Minimum Wage from the outset of employment. In addition, colleagues receive a further increase in salary after 26 weeks, when they reach our 'fully competent' level of performance.
Colleague discount scheme
Colleagues who have been employed by the business for three months are eligible for a 10 per cent discount when shopping at Sainsbury's (except petrol and gift vouchers). At certain times of the year, such as Christmas, this discount is increased to 15 per cent.
Share ownership
We encourage colleagues to own our shares – 35% are shareholders. All colleagues are able to purchase shares in the company at an agreed price, by saving through our Save As You Earn scheme with a bank or building society for a three or five-year period. These share options are granted at a discount of 20 per cent to the market price at the start of the savings period. Savings are deducted from colleagues' salaries every four weeks and at the end of the three or five-year period a bonus is added to the savings. Almost a quarter of colleagues participate in this scheme (as at March 2005).
Long-service awards
All colleagues who have 15, 25 or 40 years of service are acknowledged for their contribution to the company. Long-serving colleagues of 25 years' service or over receive a gift, an allocation of shares, a letter of congratulations and an invitation to attend an annual 25 club dinner.
Pensions
We offer all colleagues, including those working for us on a part-time basis, the opportunity to join the J Sainsbury plc Stakeholder Pension Plan. Executive colleagues may join the J Sainsbury plc Executive Stakeholder Pension Plan. These modern schemes, introduced in 2002, provide colleagues with flexible pension and death-in-service benefits. About 17,000 colleagues currently participate.
We also continue to offer a Defined Benefit Scheme to around 25,500 colleagues, although this is no longer open to new entrants.
For more information on our pension plans, see www.jspensions.com.
Bonus schemes
The majority of colleagues within Sainsbury's have the opportunity to earn an annual bonus based on the achievement of key company targets, including service to our customers and product availability. Our store colleagues' bonus scheme is one of the largest of its type in the country, with nearly 100,000 people receiving a payment for 2004/05.
