Living Wage
Tiffany & Co. is proud to be a global pioneer in developing ways to properly compensate our workforce in developing countries. For more than 10 years, we have worked with independent researchers to develop a methodology for determining a location-specific living wage.
Historically, determining an appropriate living wage has been difficult because costs and cultural norms vary around the world. The Anker Methodology, which we helped pioneer with statistician Martha Anker and economist Richard Anker, measures the local cost of a basic decent standard of living. This includes food, housing, transportation, education and health care and other essential needs—and then adds a reasonable margin for discretionary activities and emergencies. By paying a living wage according to this methodology, and adjusting it annually based on changes in the local cost of living, we aim to support our employees’ full livelihoods.
Since piloting the Anker Methodology in our manufacturing facility in Vietnam, we have used this method to determine living wages for employees at our manufacturing facilities in Botswana, Mauritius, Cambodia and the Dominican Republic. We believe that paying a living wage benefits the lives of our employees, their families and their communities through, for example, improved housing, nutrition and transportation. Our living wage program covers all full-time regular employees at these locations.
We are pleased that the Anker Methodology is becoming the gold standard to measure living wage. Through the Global Living Wage Coalition, several of the world’s most influential sustainability standards organizations have joined together with the ISEAL Alliance to recognize this approach and implement it more broadly across various industries and countries.