Bank of America has increased its minimum hourly wage for its US employees to $25 (£18.60) per hour, from this month.
As a result of the increase, the minimum annual salary for the bank’s full-time US employees will rise to more than $50,000 (£37,199). It will apply to all full-time and part-time hourly positions.
Its minimum hourly rate of pay has increased from under $15 (£11.16) per hour to $25 over the last few years. Following the latest increase, the starting salary for its full-time US employees will have gone up by more than $20,000 (£14,879) since 2017.
The aim of the pay rise is to help fuel the growth of the American economy and create job opportunities that strengthen the communities the bank serves. It builds on the bank’s history of establishing a competitive minimum rate of pay for US hourly employees.
As a further investment, 97% of Bank of America employees have also received awards beyond their regular compensation, largely in the form of its restricted common stock. Since 2017, the bank has awarded nearly $5.8 billion (£4.3 billion) in share awards.
Sheri Bronstein, chief people officer at Bank of America, said: “Our strong and rising minimum starting salary provides opportunities for our teammates to build a long-term career at Bank of America. Competitive compensation is one of the many ways we are helping to drive American economic growth and opportunity.”
Bank of America also offers a range of employee benefits, such as onboarding, education and professional development, 26 weeks of parental leave, of which 16 are fully paid, personalised support for employees and their families navigating critical life events through its Life Event Services team, four to six weeks of paid sabbatical based on service, back-up child and adult care, reimbursement for childcare expenses for those eligible, and health plans that include no-cost wellness visits, preventative medications, virtual care and onsite screenings.
