We are proud to announce that we are a certified living wage employer in Ontario and the Niagara Region. We are happy to announce this certification because it adds to the many initiatives that we are involved with that help fight the cost of living crisis happening in the Niagara Region and Ontario as a whole.
At JR Moving Services it is important that we provide our employees with a wage that you can live off of because this helps us sustain our quality standards when servicing our customers throughout the entire Niagara Region. With this certification in place it will help lower our turnover rate in a high turnover industry.
The moving industry as a whole is a high turnover rate industry, and this will help us sustain our quality standards, business and keep great employees. This certification will also encourage great people to apply for a job with us, as it signals that JR Moving Services is a fair and honest employer. We are a believer and have a vision that great people make a great company and this certification aligns with that vision.
About The Ontario Living Wage Network
As per their website:
A wage that you can live off of is the hourly wage a worker needs to earn to cover their basic expenses and participate in their community.
It is not the same as the minimum wage, which is the legislated minimum all employers must pay and is set by the provincial government. The living wage reflects what people need to earn to cover the actual costs of living in their community. A wage that you can live off of draws on community-specific data to determine the expenses to a family with two working adults and two children. Living wage employers voluntarily decide to pay a living wage and maintain their certification as new rates are calculated for their area.
(UPDATE: In 2021 we moved to a weighted average family model that uses a family of four, a single mother, and a single adult)
Why is it necessary?
More and more people are working for low wages. They are facing impossible choices — buy food or heat the house, feed the children or pay the rent. The result can be spiralling debt, constant anxiety, and long-term health problems. In many cases it means that the adults in a family are working long hours, often at two or three jobs, just to pay for basic necessities. Employees that earn a living wage can face fewer of these stressors; employers that pay a living wage can be confident they are not keeping their employees in poverty.
How is the living wage calculated?
The living wage is calculated based on the needs of a family of four with two parents each working full-time, full-year. It would also support a family throughout the life cycle so that young adults are not discouraged from having children and older workers have some extra income as they age. Communities across Ontario use the National Living Wage Framework to calculate their local living wage rate. This framework was developed by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
