Shop | Lidl starts offering a discount to its staff

Competitive of employees in the trade industry is getting tighter when Lidl tries to attract new employees to its payroll and to get the current ones to stay in the industry with an exceptional staff discount for the German company.

The third largest player in the Finnish grocery trade says that starting Monday, it will offer its employees in Finland a six percent discount on all of the company’s products, from milk to drills.

HR director at Lidl Heli Hassinen-Biberger says that the personnel discount is introduced due to the “challenging” nature of the labor market in the trade sector.

“Since there have been and are challenges in terms of the sufficiency and availability of employees, and the future also looks challenging, we have thought about how to get employees interested in us as an employer. Among the staff, the staff discount was clearly the biggest wish,” says Hassinen-Biberger.

“The idea behind the benefit is that we would have traction in the labor market and, more importantly, the retention of the existing personnel.”

The trade sector is considered a transit sector, and mobility in the sector has traditionally been high. Employee turnover has increased even more since the corona pandemic.

On the market according to the most recent data collected by the association, the total turnover, which measures those entering and leaving the retail trade, rose to more than 28 percent in 2022.

In Kesko, the total turnover last year was a little over 16 percent, and in the S group, the turnover rate was almost 20 percent, according to the companies’ annual reports. According to Hassinen-Biberger, turnover at Lidl is around 15 percent.

Those who leave primarily move out of the industry, and the transfer of employees from one trading company to another is rarer. Hassinen-Biberger says that employee turnover is a “characteristic feature” of the trade industry, because there are many students working part-time in the industry.

“Even though a certain degree of turnover will never disappear entirely, the sufficiency of the workforce in Finland in the future worries us as well. We see it as important that we have fun for a long time,” says Hassinen-Biberger.

Lidl’s according to Hassinen-Biberger, the personnel received the information about the personnel reduction “with joy” and “extremely satisfied”.

According to a calculation made by Lidl, the six percent discount on food purchases announced on Monday will be felt by the employee.

According to the Consumer Research Center, a family of four that eats reasonably sparingly spends 775 euros on food purchases per month, or 9,300 euros per year.

According to the company’s calculation, a Lidl employee will therefore save almost 600 euros in food purchases each year with the staff discount.

According to Hassinen-Biberger, the six percent discount was decided on so that it would be the “best” in the industry. You can also get a discount on already discounted products.

Personnel discount percentage seems bigger in food than in the S group or the K group, but with the main competitors, the employee can also get a discount on cars, food rations and even hotel stays.

The S group gives its employees a 3-25 percent discount, depending on the product. The discount is three percent on everyday goods and 15 percent on the most common consumer goods, the S group says on its website.

In S group restaurants, the discount is up to 25 percent, and in addition, employees receive benefits from S-bank’s services, such as a “competitive” margin for a mortgage.

K group’s employees receive discounts of 5–20 percent on food and consumables, as well as the group’s hardware stores and sports stores, according to K group’s communications.

K-group members also receive euro-denominated discounts on cars sold by the group’s car stores.

The S group and the K group have been offering staff discounts for years.

Staff discount the implementation makes Lidl Finland an exception compared to other Lidl countries, as a similar employee benefit is not in use in the company’s other operating countries.

This has been influenced by the fact that the German Lidl operates extensively in Central Europe, where employee discounts are not favored in the same way as in Finland or other Nordic countries.

Different taxation and legislation in the countries of operation can also be an obstacle to granting staff discounts.

Lidl has previously tried to attract employees with so-called Lidl and logistics bonuses paid on top of the salary.

Depending on the task and location, Lidl pays store workers 1.5–10 percent and warehouse workers 11–18 percent higher hourly wages than in the industry’s collective agreement.

The benefit policy is valid because Lidl does not use bonuses based on annual results. More has been paid since 2002, i.e. since Lidl started in Finland.