PAYING the living wage is helping one Highlands based company attract high quality applicants for vacancies.

As travel costs can be more expensive in the area than further south, TEFL Org says the living wage also helps its team cover the costs of commuting.

Launched 10 years ago, the award-winning company is the most accredited course provider in the UK of TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language).

The e-commerce business was set up in 2008 after directors, Jennifer MacKenzie and Joe Hallwood, recognised a gap in Scotland’s market for high quality and accredited TEFL courses.

Implementing their own experience and knowledge of the industry, they began providing students across the globe with detailed course content. TEFL Org UK now provides TEFL training to more than 10,000 students throughout the world every year.

The company employs a team of 20 staff, both in Inverness and remotely throughout the UK with more than 30 tutors internationally. TEFL Org UK’s recent recruitment drive for digital marketers to join the e-commerce team has been a result of the company’s growth in the UK and Ireland and most recently in the US.

Having become an accredited living wage employer in April 2016, the company says it has found that it helps attract high quality candidates when it is recruiting.

Unlike the UK Government’s so-called living wage of £7.83 per hour, which is merely the minimum wage and applies to only those who are aged 25 and over, the real living wage is based on the cost of living and is currently £8.75 per hour.

“We chose to pay the real living wage partly because of an employer of young people, some, in the past still at school, I didn’t feel they should be penalised in their pay – just because they were or weren’t a certain age,” said TEFL Org UK’s director, Jennifer MacKenzie. “You should be paid for the job you are doing, not the age you are.”

Marketing and sales manager Alan Moir added: “We care about and value our hardworking and dedicated team, so it was only natural to become a living wage employer. Based where we are in the Highlands, the living wage allows our team members to cover the costs of commuting to work each day. Being a living wage employer also helps when recruiting for new team members as it helps us attract high quality candidates that want to stay.”

Currently, two billion people are estimated to be learning English across the globe spanning all age groups, regions and economic status. As the call for English teachers, particularly in areas of Asia and Europe increases, TEFL Org UK is working to match the demand by providing accessible training both online and in person. The company offers classroom courses in more than 30 locations throughout the UK and Ireland as well as a number of courses in the US cities of Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York.

Having grown substantially over its 10 years of business the company relocated its headquarters in Dingwall to Inverness in 2015 to accommodate its expanding team and is managed by experienced professionals with more than 30 years of industry experience in teaching English and teacher training.

The accreditation programme in Scotland launched in April 2014. It is an initiative from The Poverty Alliance, in partnership with the Living Wage Foundation.