US retailer Target is to permanently increase hourly pay for its 200,00 employees to $15 (£12) per hour from 5 July 2020.
Due to the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic, employees have received a temporary $2 (£1.60) wage increase since March 2020, but the organisation has decided to make this a permanent fixture. Prior to the pandemic, employees received $13 (£10.41) per hour.
The organisation has also introduced a recognition bonus of $200 (£160) to reward full-time and part-time hourly team members at both stores and distribution centres for their on going work during the pandemic. This follows a previous bonus paid in April 2020 which saw employees receiving between $250 - $1000 (£200-£800).
Target has also offered its employees free access to healthcare through virtual doctor visits, regardless of whether team members currently subscribe to a Target healthcare plan.
The organisation previously offered 30-day paid leave for vulnerable employees and free back-up care for family members. Target also suspended its absenteeism policy and offered counselling sessions.
Brian Cornell, chairman and chief executive at Target, said: “In the best of times, our team brings incredible energy and empathy to our work, and in harder times they bring those qualities plus extraordinary resilience and agility to keep Target on the forefront of meeting the changing needs of our guests and our business year after year."
“Everything we aspire to do and be as a business builds on the central role our team members play in our strategy, their dedication to our purpose and the connection they create with our guests and communities.”
