What does it mean to create lasting value? For our clients this can be connected to smart decisions that bring their business success, but for our people this is as simple as being paid a living wage.
Our Yellowknife office is proud to be named an NWT 2019 Living Wage employer; meaning they are committed to offering a living wage to their full-time employees. Crowe MacKay LLP is one of the 11 businesses listed by Alternatives North who offer living wages in Yellowknife, Hay River, and Inuvik.
Jennifer Arnold, Director of Operations in the Yellowknife office stresses that “it’s critical we consider the cost of living in the North when determining our compensation strategies. We care about whether or not our people can sustain a comfortable quality of life, so we share in our success through many compensation initiatives. We want our people investing in the community and our local economy. This is how, together, we continuously grow.“
To establish the Living Wage estimates, Alternatives North used recommendations by the Canadian Living Wage Framework (CLWF). The bare-bones budget includes shelter, food, clothing, transportation, childcare, health care services and supplies, and a small emergency fund. The budget does not include paying debts, saving money, helping other family members financially or owning a pet, among other things.
In order to earn a wage that allows for a decent standard of living, each parent in a family of four would have to earn $23.95 in Yellowknife, $24.75 in Hay River, and $23.78 in Inuvik working 37.5 hours per week.
"Living Wage rates show what it takes to live decently in the NWT. To ensure this basic standard of living, we can either raise wages, decrease costs, or increase subsidies," says Alternatives North’s Suzette Montreuil, who led recalculation efforts. “Either way, we have to do something to help lower-income working residents.”
Alternatives North is a coalition of groups and individuals united in an active, grassroots commitment to build, strengthen, and defend social, environmental, and economic justice in the Northwest Territories.