The introduction of the National Living Wage could cause wages to rise across the whole business, according to Neil Pickering, industry marketing manager for Kronos Systems.
Speaking at an HR magazine and Kronos roundtable event on workforce management, Pickering said many businesses see this as a chance to do things differently.
“The encouraging thing coming out of these discussions is that businesses are seeing this as an opportunity – an opportunity to do things differently, an opportunity to be more productive, and to drive efficiency within organisations," he said.
He also said that strong employee engagement could help mitigate the impact of an increased wage bill. “We all know that if you have an engaged employee they are more productive, they are happy to be there, and delivering great customer service," he said. "Great customer service means retaining contracts. It’s absolutely critical.”
