Target employees now make $15 minimum wage in all US stores

Retail giant Target officially put it into place its minimum wage hike on Sunday. Now, employees working at target will earn a minimum wage of $15 an hour, CNBC News reports. The company was scheduled to introduce the hike later this year but went ahead with its plans earlier than expected. Along with the increase in the minimum wage, the retailer has also introduced several other grants to give employees additional benefits, including a one-time $200 bonus. The grants will benefit an estimated 275,000 employees at a time when the country's economy is, by and large, sinking.

The company had promised a $15 minimum wage in the later part of 2020. As cases of Coronavirus rose across the United States, Target temporarily increased the wage by $2 per hour in March. The most recent hike permanently brings the minimum wage to $15. At present, about 350,000 are employed with the retail giant. In some cities, such as New York City and San Francisco, employees are already mandated $15 in minimum wage. Therefore, about 275,000 employees will benefit from the increase. In addition to this, Target has recognized the dedication of part-time and full-time employees’ work during the pandemic and has promised a $200 bonus which will be paid out at the end of July.

This is only the latest bonus offered by the company; in March, Target paid bonuses of $250 to $1,500 to 20,000 hourly team leaders who currently manage store departments in their 1,900 stores across the United States. The retailer has also introduced free backup care for employees’ children or needy adults through August, free mental health counseling, and 30-day paid leave for employees at higher risk of contracting the virus. Furthermore, even if employees do not receive health insurance from the firm, they will be eligible for free access to virtual doctor visits through the end of the year.

These benefits, with particular focus on the hike in the minimum wage, are a result of Target's ongoing commitment to their employees. For several years now, the retailer has been steadily boosting wages. Three years ago, it announced a plan to increase its starting hourly pay from $10 to $15 over three years—the plan has finally culminated in a fairer and more equitable wage in line with the Fight for $15 campaign, a movement to increase the federal minimum wage to $15 backed by progressives such as former Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and Democratic House Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Target's Chairman and CEO Brian Cornell affirmed in a company statement issued last month, "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 company 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." It's time for more companies to follow suit.