In response to DIY Week's recent reportings of dissatisfied employees at B&Q and Homebase, Wickes has now been put under the spotlight by one of its workers.
The Wickes employee, who has opted to remain anonymous, said: "I wanted to write in about the debate in the recent issues about B&Q and then Homebase. They should try working at Wickes! We would kill for £7.66 per hour and time and a half on Sunday or £7.40 in the case of the Homebase worker.

"At the recent introduction of the NLW [new living wage] of £7.20, Wickes put us up [to] that level by taking away our increments for knowledge learning and fork lift truck driving. So now the driver who has the responsibility to balance a ton and half pallet 20 feet in the air gets paid the same as the cleaner.

"As for Sundays, it's just another day, no extra pay and in addition although not publicly announced, it is obviously policy to reduce store person-hours to cover the increased wage bill as the last two full timers that have left have not been replaced. We are all dedicated and long serving in our store and very disgruntled."

A Wickes representative told DIY Week: "All Wickes store colleagues receive the National Living Wage and through our new GainShare programme, full-time staff can now earn up to £3,600 per year on top of their usual pay. We've introduced this scheme as we want our colleagues to share in Wickes's success, and for that reason GainShare increases every colleague's potential monthly bonus per month. This provides the opportunity for everyone to boost their wages based on their store's performance. We pay a fair wage and with GainShare many colleagues will benefit from this new approach."

It comes following a mass employee uproar at B&Q after bosses made changes to wages, resulting in the loss of several benefits. Although the decision has since been removed for the next two years, several workers remain unhappy. A Homebase worker also weighed in, saying that they were paid less than B&Q, though he admitted that certain things were improving under the retailer's new owner Bunnings.