The pandemic has made a whole lot of changes to the labor sector in the past year. One of these changes has been the increase in hourly pay. Though the federal minimum wage still hangs somewhere around $8, a few companies have decided to take a different route. Some of the top companies have taken it upon themselves to close to double the minimum page.
Most of these companies are at least paying $15 per hour simply because the labor market is in high demand. Some of these companies have established the norm already, while some are on their way to do the same. Here is a list of top companies that have increased their hourly pay to at least $15 per hour.
Amazon:
A tech giant like Amazon enacted the rule of increasing hourly pay to $15 way back in 2018 itself! It came as a pleasant surprise to all the employees working at Amazon. Apart from that, they have been in talks with Congress to make the $15 hourly pay a norm. They stated that the increase in pay had had positive outcomes for the employees as well as their families. Apply now for Amazon jobs.
Bank of America:
In the year 2019, the month of May, Bank of America increased the hourly pay of its employees to $17. Merely a year later, they decided to give the employees a raise, again! In March 2020, Bank of America started paying their employees $20 as their hourly pay. They have also claimed that by 2024 they plan to increase the pay to $25 hourly.
Ben & Jerry’s:
Ben & Jerry’s is known for their ice creams and the fact that they revise their hourly pay every year! In the year 2020, Ben &Jerry’s started paying their employees $18.13. Their main aim is to help their employees live a better life with higher wages.
Aetna:
In the year 2015, the healthcare brand Aetna started paying their employees $16 in hourly pay. According to their CEO, anything below the current offering would not have been fair to the employees. They plan to use the raise as an incentive to make the workforce better and more motivated.
Best Buy:
In August 2020, Best Buy decided to raise its hourly pay to $15. The CEO, Corie Barry stated in a press release that the raise was an investment to compensate for the work that the front-line employees were doing.
Costco:
Costco increased their hourly pay in the year 2019 to $15. However, in February 2021, they decided to take it up a notch. Now the workers at Costco are getting paid $16 per hour. The company believes that this hike will help increase productivity and reduce turnover.
Cigna:
This global health service company, in the year 2018, decided to set their minimum wage value to $16 per hour for their insurance workers. They coupled this with a 401(k) match as well. The main aim of the company was to improve the quality of life of its workers.
Charter Communications:
In the year 2018, the company established a norm of paying $15 hourly pay. In the month of April 2020, the company announced, that they planned to raise their hourly pay, permanently, to $20 by 2022. They have since increased the minimum wage by $1.5 per hour, every year. They reached their minimum wage milestone in the month of March. Their employees are now being offered $18 hourly pay.
Disney World:
Walt Disney World, in the year, decided and reached an agreement with particular union groups to increase their hourly pay, by October 2021, to $15.
Facebook:
The year 2015 saw the rise in hourly pay for Facebook contract workers to $15. Then in 2019, Facebook decided to raise its minimum wage again to $20 in New York, Washington DC and the San Fransico Bay area. The minimum wage in Seattle also went up the same year, to $18.
Google:
Google, in the year 2019, started paying the temporary workers and the U.S. vendor $15 hourly pay.
Starbucks:
December 2020 saw the CEO of Starbucks, Kevin Johnson, write an open letter to Congress, about their increase in the minimum wage. The hourly pay now stands at $15.
Target:
Target, in the month of July 2020, offered its team a $200 coronavirus bonus. In 2017, they also announced that they planned to increase the hourly pay from $10 to $15. Now, they have been able to achieve their goal, and their workers are being paid $15 hourly.
Fifth Third Bank:
The Fifth Third Bank, whose parent company is the Fifth Third Corp, decided to increase their minimum wage in the year 2018. It was only in August 2019 that they decided to increase it to $18. The company applauded the hard work done by its employees and dedicated the company’s success to them.
It is no doubt, that this wage increase has motivated employees across these companies. The companies mentioned above have set a trend when it comes to providing greater hourly pay. This just might see more and more companies jumping on the same bandwagon soon. Only time will tell though!
