Why some businesses are paying staff a living wage, not just the minimum

At Massy Books in Vancouver, staff get sick days, benefits and wages that are based on the cost of living in one of the country's most expensive cities.

"I'm responsible for paying somebody a wage that's going to allow them to pay their bills and to support their families," said Patricia Massy, proprietor of the Indigenous owned-and-operated bookstore, which specializes in the works of underrepresented authors.

Massy Books is one of a growing number of businesses and organizations signing on to become what's known as living wage employers — committing to paying wages corresponding to the costs of things like rent, food, transportation and child care in the region where they live.

The store was recently certified by Living Wages for Families BC, one of several advocacy groups across Canada pushing for a living wage. There are similar groups in Alberta and Ontario — and a spokesperson with the Ontario Living Wage Network says more than 400 businesses and organizations in the province have committed to paying more than minimum wage.

"Employers want to know that they're not holding their employees in working poverty," Craig Pickthorne said.

WATCH | Patricia Massy on why she decided to pay her staff more:

The living wage is calculated by determining how much a person in a given municipality needs to earn per hour in order to meet the essential costs of living — and still be above the poverty line, with the chance of social mobility.

That means "enough money to put aside to, let's say, go to school, to get a better job, to get them to get a better income, or put aside money to start a business," said Minh Nguyen with the Montreal think-tank Institut de recherche et d'informations socioéconomiques (IRIS).

Though the minimum wage is going up in some provinces, Nguyen said he sees the gap widening between those new figures and the living wage. In Montreal, Nguyen's 2021 report calculated the living wage to be $18 per hour, whereas Quebec's minimum wage is currently $13.50. Paying the higher, living wage, Nguyen said, would help a lot of workers.

"They have to think about how to get to the end of the month," he said. "If they actually earned a living wage, they would have more freedom. They could have more lightness in their lives. They could think about the future."

Employers, organizations and labour unions use Nguyen's annual calculation to determine employee wages or lobby employers for better pay.

Nguyen acknowledges that living wages will cost businesses more, but envisions a gradual transition to higher wages, using government subsidies to help businesses through.

At Perspectives Jeunesse, a Montreal non-profit focused on preventing teens from dropping out of school, the living wage calculation is used to determine employees' salaries, said executive director Louis-Philippe Sarrazin.

"When you pay people [a living wage] they feel more comfortable," he said. "You will keep them, you will be able to develop them and grow the company with them."