British American Tobacco (BAT) Kenya Plc has revealed that it is now paying a minimum of Sh57,812 as basic pay for its unionised staff, making it one of the best-paying companies in Kenya.

BAT Kenya says it benchmarks itself against a peer group of premium global and local organisations.

The minimum basic pay compares to Sh28,487 as the statutory pay for staff in the comparable peer group.

The manufacturer also offers Sh27,500 as leave allowance and a minimum Sh28,850 housing allowance to staff, against a comparable 15 percent of basic pay.

“We benchmark ourselves primarily between median and upper quartile of the peer group, which enables us to offer competitive compensation,” BAT notes in its inaugural sustainability report.

Additionally, BAT offers a shift allowance set at a maximum 17 percent of basic pay, while compensation from redundancy is benchmarked at four days for every month worked, a premium to the comparable 15 days for every year worked elsewhere.

BAT also offers a Sh610 meal allowance, an acting allowance of 17 percent of basic pay and a responsibility allowance set at 19 percent of basic pay.

Unionised staff earn a minimum of 30 days of annual leave and three months of sick leave on full pay.

A further three months of sick leave can be offered on half pay while a further extension of sick leave by three months is offered on a third of pay in a given year.

Comparatively, the standard annual leave is usually set at 21 days while sick leave is set at full pay for 30 days and a further 15 days on half pay while allowances such as acting and responsibility are not offered.

For non-unionised staff, BAT offers annual total compensation ranging from 70 percent to 120 percent of the market anchor.

In the year ended December 2022, BAT employed 399 staff on permanent basis, with 44 percent being women.

The manufacturer whose gender-pay parity report earlier revealed that women in senior positions earn more than men, has disclosed the ratio of basic salary and remuneration of women to men at 0.89 to 1 with the greater pay to men on average being attributed to a longer tenure of service.

This means that for every Sh100,000 earned by a male employee, a female employee earns Sh89,000.

BAT negotiates the collective bargaining agreement with staff every two years.