Recently, Wal-Mart announced its decision to raise the base wage of its employees.
Wal-Mart plans to increase wages for close to 40 percent of its workforce. As of April, workers will earn at least nine dollars an hour, which is $1.75 more than the federal minimum wage. Workers’ wages will increase to $10 per hour by February 2016. According to a Washington Post article, Wal-Mart is the nation’s largest employer.
Several days later, another retail giant. TJX, mother company of TJ Maxx, Marshalls, and Home Goods announced it also was increasing retail workers’ base pay to nine dollars an hour. Forbes reports that this wage increase is in keeping with IKEA’s wage increase to more than $10 per hour in 2015 and also with Gap Inc. which also increased their workers’ base pay in 2014 and at the beginning of 2015.
We see a domino effect occurring in the retail industry that may carry over to other lines of work as well. What is obvious is that the retail business model is undergoing change. Part of the underlying reason may be that retail chain stores have to compete with online stores, such as Amazon.
Another factor may be that bad publicity. Despite advertising efforts to create good branding and trustworthy images, a negative public image can drive customers to leave retail stores and shop online instead. Consumers wonder why large conglomerates are not paying their workers well and do not want to support them. Also, as the economy improves and employment pools shrink, stores must raise wages to stay competitive with each other if they want to hire the better job candidates.
Stay on top of your business and consult with an employment lawyer who has extensive experience handling wages and hours disputes. Stephen Hans & Associates offers effective legal representation and has successfully defended employers for more than 20 years in employment litigation issues.