James Moore: Greencore should share its spoils with staff

Outlook Remember Greencore, the sandwich maker that said it couldn’t find enough workers close to its base in Northampton to produce its product and so flew its executives off to Hungary to import them?

Staff shortages don’t seem to be hurting its business all that much, at least if its latest set of number are anything to go by.

Despite moaning about a “challenging” grocery market (it is in big supermarkets such as Tesco, Sainsbury and Asda that you’ll find much of Greencore’s produce), the company managed to avoid getting sucked into their price war and reported a near 5 per cent increase in sales at the convenience division that services them.

Of course, one way to enhance recruitment would be to ensure that the rewards from this undoubted success were shared around the business.

Offering employees decent pay and benefits packages would help no end with those recruiting difficulties the company claims to have been suffering from.

Unfortunately, the only group of employees who are likely to benefit from Greencore’s successful trading in an allegedly difficult period are those at the top, who will no doubt be feasting on something a little more refined than sandwiches packed in plastic when bonus time comes around.

Companies like Greencore are a wonderful argument for why the minimum wage should be increased, and sharply, so that the benefits of its success are shared more equitably among its people, regardless of whether they hail from the middle of Britain, or from the middle of Hungary.