Markdale company Chapman’s Ice Cream has decided its pandemic pay boost for workers isn’t going anywhere.
The company recently announced a $2 an hour pay top-up introduced in March will be made permanent starting in October for production and distribution workers.
The ice cream and frozen treat maker is also raising its starting wage to $18 an hour for production employees.
Chapman’s Ice Cream Vice President Ashley Chapman says the $2 premium was introduced March 22 as an extra incentive to bring workers back after the company had a brief two-week shutdown amid the initial uncertainty of the pandemic.
He says the company started looking at the concept of a living wage years ago just to judge how Chapman’s compared to other employers. When the pandemic hit, Chapman says they looked at it again and realized the company was under where it needed to be to provide a living wage to its workers.
Chapman says it “just kind of made sense” to bump up the pay by $2 an hour permanently and increase starting wages.
“We just felt it was the right thing to do,” Chapman explains. “And we just didn’t want to be in a position to take anything away from our employees. We’ve got a lot of really good people working here and we rely on them day in and day out.”
“We appreciate them. This was just an easy way to show our appreciation.”
A 2019 study by The United Way of Bruce Grey concluded the living wage rate for a two-income family in Grey and Bruce counties is at least $18.39 each per hour, working full-time.
The living wage calculation used by The United Way Bruce Grey includes basic needs such as shelter, food, transportation and childcare. It also includes a modest amount for recreation, but does not factor in things like savings or debt payments.
Chapman notes the company underwent a price increase in 2019, and doesn’t plan any further markups to its products to support the cost of the wage increase for employees. In other words, the consumer will not bear the added cost – the company will.
Chapman’s Ice Cream was willing to make a bit less to pay their employees a bit more.
“At the end of the day, if the Chapman family makes less money we’re ok with that,” the company’s vice president, Ashley Chapman says. “Having happy employees is the surest way to have a successful business and that’s the type of business we’re trying to run.”
As for how the ice cream business is going during these times, Chapman says the company is down a “few per cent” despite considerable growth in ice cream consumption during the pandemic – especially among families with small children.
He is comfortable with the position the company is in and confident it will continue to do well, but feels for other businesses that have faced complete devastation brought on by Covid.
“Some of these poor businesses out there have lost 10, 20, 30, 40, if not 100 per cent of their business during the pandemic,” Chapman adds. “It’s got to be devastating.”
