Target Boosts Beginning Wage To $15, Extends Pandemic Benefits

As it invests almost $1 billion more on its team than it did last year, Target said it would permanently increase its beginning wage for staffers in the U.S. to $15 hourly. The retailer also said it would provide its frontline retail location and distribution hub hourly workers with a single bonus of $200 for their work during the COVID-19 health crisis per an announcement.

Each U.S. hourly and full-time team member at its retail locations, headquarters and distribution hubs will be able to receive the $15 beginning wage. Back in 2017, Target said it would gradually move starting wages for hourly workers to $15 by the end of this year.  Target had bolstered wages from a beginning pay of $11 over the past three years, with the beginning pay rising to $13 in June of last year.

Target noted the single $200 bonus would be given at the conclusion of July to full-time as well as part-time hourly workers who are eligible at retail locations and distribution hubs.

Target Corp. Chairman and CEO Brian Cornell said in the announcement, “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.”

Cornell continued, “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.”

The retailer also said it was providing complimentary access to digital doctor visits for all workers up to the conclusion of 2020 whether or not they are current Target health care plan subscribers. It also publicized complimentary backup care for family members and further extensions of 30-day paid leave for workers who are vulnerable.

In March, news surfaced that the retailer was offering bonuses to thousands of staffers and increasing wages by $2 each hour during a rise in commerce due to the pandemic.