Retail giant Target has announced that they are boosting starting wages for employees as high as $24 an hour.
The Minneapolis-based company has said that it will be investing $300 million into its workforce in 2022, including healthcare benefits for hourly workers.
“We want all team members to be better off for working at Target, and years of investments in our culture of care, meaningful pay, expanded health care benefits and opportunities for growth have been essential to helping our team members build rewarding careers,” the company’s chief human resources officer, Melissa Kremer, said in a statement.
Target previously raised its minimum wage to $15 an hour, which will remain in place. However, some workers will be offered higher starting pay based on the job and the competitive wages in their local market, according to a report from CNN Business.
The chain has approximately 350,000 employees and over 1,900 US stores.
Hourly workers will have access to healthcare benefits beginning in April.
“Under the plan, Target’s hourly employees who work a minimum average of 25 hours a week will be eligible to enroll in a company medical plan. That’s down from the previous requirement of 30 hours per week,” CNN reports. “The retailer is also shortening the waiting period for eligible hourly team members to enroll in a Target medical plan. Depending on their position, employees will be able to get comprehensive health care benefits three to nine months sooner. Employees will also get faster access to 401(k) plans.”
Target led the way with their $15 an hour minimum in 2017, but many of their competitors have now done the same amidst the worker shortage.
“The market has changed,” Target CEO Brian Cornell in an interview with NBC News. ”We want to continue to have an industry-leading position.”
The NBC report noted that “according to a recent survey of more than 100 major retailers with annual revenues between $500 million to more than $20 billion, 96% said they’re having trouble finding store employees. The survey conducted by global consulting firm Korn Ferry in January also found that 88 percent said it was difficult to find distribution-center workers.”
