Pie maker slices its working week

Nestled at the gateway to the Yorkshire Dales, the UK’s number one pork pie brand has made changes to its working patterns and pay rates to create an even tastier work offering for its employees and encourage new ones to come on board.

Vale of Mowbray, which was established in 1795 and bakes over 1.5 million pies every single week, has made the move to a four-day working week to give its staff more time to spend with their families and enjoying leisure time.

The move comes as the company announced an enhanced rate of pay across the board, taking it to £10 per hour which is above both National Minimum and National Living Wage, while also moving to a four-day 12-hour shift pattern with the opportunity to work overtime at time and a quarter.

Sheree Walker, head of HR said: “Our people are our most valuable asset, and we’re keen for them to enjoy a work-life balance. It suits us operationally to make the change to a four-day week but more importantly it suits our staff, especially since they have the option to use one of their days off to earn additional money if they wish to.

“Increasing our shifts to being 12-hour has enabled efficiencies that mean we can maintain or even increase output without the need for night shifts, giving our people a more family-friendly working pattern as well as a three-day break each week.”

The new shift pattern is Monday to Thursday or Tuesday to Friday inclusive, with four 12-hour shifts. The company is also looking into creating part-time roles within this to offer additional flexibility.

Mark Gatenby, managing director said: “We recognise that the quality of people’s lives are built around work life balance, and we can impact that positively. This is only the start, it’s also about being a great place to work and our staff retention is testament to our commitment to this – some of our people have been with us for over 20 years.”

Based at Leeming Bar, North Yorkshire, Vale of Mowbray employs over 200 people and currently has live vacancies for permanent staff members.