Premier Inn owner Whitbread is coughing up an additional £12-13 million on higher staff wages and bonuses following persistent Brexit induced staff shortages. Whitbread is keen to employ an additional 2,000 staff to add to their 30,000 existing headcount and had announced a pay increase for hourly-paid staff at the start of October. However a strong post-Covid bounce has, according to Whitbread, put Premier Inn in a position to pay higher wages. Previously, passionate remainers keeping tight-lipped about this development…
Chief executive Alison Brittain said:
“Whitbread traded significantly ahead of the market in the UK during the first half of the year.
“The operating environment during the summer and into autumn has been challenging largely as a result of our very high occupancy levels, market-wide supply chain issues and a tighter labour supply in the hospitality sector.”
It seems thanks to Brexit, Premier’s Inn’s staff might be sleeping more soundly than their customers…
