BOSSES at an Edinburgh letting agency are convinced that paying the living wage has helped the business grow faster than those of its competitors.
Since setting up 12 years ago, Umega Lettings now manage flats and houses all over the city on behalf of hundreds of landlords and look after the homes of thousands of tenants.
The company has two offices in the city centre with a third due to open soon and employs 24 people directly and another 30 indirectly.
“Our team like that we are supporting the living wage campaign and understand the importance of this,” said managing director Neil McInnes.
“Ours is a low-wage industry and it’s common for employers to pay below the threshold but our team respect that we choose to meet the requirements. Not only have we managed to remain competitively priced but through initiatives like the living wage, our business has grown faster than our competitors due to the quality of our team and what the accreditation says to prospective clients about the way we do business.
“We’re not your average letting agent. We understand that our service is only as good as our team and what makes them want to come to work every day. Letting agents are typically not everyone’s favourite people but we like to think we’re changing perceptions with our brand of customer service which is driven by the way we look after our employees.”
He added: “The living wage campaign is really important and its aims sit very close with our own ethos. Becoming a living wage employer helped us look at our suppliers in a new light and engage with them to highlight the importance of the living wage. I’m proud that Umega Lettings is a living wage employer and that we support the campaign. By paying our employees the living wage, and ensuring that our suppliers and subcontractors are doing the same, we are ensuring that anyone working for us is earning enough for a decent quality of life.”
The company has grown particularly fast over the last two years and McInnes says it is has been down to Umega’s efforts to be an exemplary employer and offer a good place to work. Salaries are at the top end of the industry scale and several other initiatives have been introduced to make the company’s employee experience and development more challenging and rewarding.
Last year Umega launched their Staff Property Portfolio where every month 20 per cent of profits are put into a fund used to buy properties that are managed by Umega for free with the company’s employees holding shares.
“There are many reasons why we launched this scheme: reward employee loyalty with a significant financial benefit in the long-term, put our employees in our clients’ shoes, enable our team to benefit from the services we offer and build experience in our team by giving them real money to invest in rental property that they manage and financially benefit from,” said McInnes.
“This scheme is run in conjunction with our open book management approach to the way we run our finances. Every penny we earn and spend is open to the scrutiny of everyone who works in the business, apart from individual salaries, although the aggregated salary line is shared.
“The success we are having as a business is down to the investment and improvement in our team. I believe the example we are setting with things like living wage will lead others in our industry to follow suit.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here