FINANCIAL savings due to reduced staff turnover, increased productivity and lower absenteeism – those are just some of the advantages of paying the Living Wage, according to extensive research by a Scottish university.

The University of Strathclyde carried out the study among fellow Living Wage employers, including Deloitte, KPMG, Barclays and SSE.

Dr Andrea Coulson, head of the department of accounting and finance at Strathclyde Business School, said: “Offering the Living Wage is an important way in which an organisation can reduce in-work poverty. While there is clearly a financial cost in paying staff more, there are many benefits.

“These range from financial savings due to reduced staff turnover and increased productivity and morale to lower absenteeism and improved reputational standing.

“Our research highlighted the importance of building a business case on both financial and non-financial performance criteria and quantitative and qualitative evidence.”

The only higher education institution in Scotland founded during the Enlightenment, Strathclyde has frequently led the way in adopting socially-progressive policies such as paying the Living Wage.

It’s an ethos that led to the university being named the higher education sector’s Workplace of the Year 2017 by Times Higher Education. It is the latest in a series of high-profile awards from the same title in the last six years, including UK University of the Year and Business School of the Year.

Director of human resources Sandra Heidinger said: “Our core values at Strathclyde are to be bold, ambitious, innovative, collaborative and people-oriented. Looking after our people is key to all the other values we pride ourselves on as a socially progressive employer.

“In recent years we have taken a series of steps to enhance the working environment for our staff in key areas. There include phasing out zero-hour contracts, introducing a new policy and support group for staff who are carers, and paying the Living Wage, for which we gained official accreditation from the Living Wage Foundation (LWF) in 2015.

“Our reputation as a leading university and excellent employer ensures we attract and retain global talent.”

Strathclyde is a leading international technological university, delivering world-class research and teaching and collaborating with industry, government, business and the third sector in order to do so.

It employs 3500 people directly and supports nearly 8000 jobs in Glasgow and 13,000 in Scotland. As one of the UK’s top-20 universities for research intensity, its collaborations are set to contribute nearly £1.4 billion to the Scottish economy by 2021-22, according to an independent report.

One-third of FTSE 100 companies now committed to the Living Wage following the recent accreditation of drinks company Diageo.

For the next generation of employees, the Living Wage is essential. Research by the LWF and the National Union of Students showed that 93 per cent of students surveyed want to work for a Living Wage employer and that 79 per cent would think badly of their employer if it paid any of their staff below the real Living Wage. For the university, the benefits have been clear – in its most recent staff survey 97 per cent of operational staff who responded agreed the it is a people-oriented employer, up from 89 per cent in 2013.