MINNEAPOLIS, June 17, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Target
today announced a number of industry-leading updates and extensions
to its pay and benefits. Beginning July
5, it will permanently raise its starting wage for U.S. team
members to $15 per
hour. Additionally, the company will give a one-time
recognition bonus of $200 to its
frontline store and distribution center hourly workers for their
efforts throughout the coronavirus pandemic.
Starting this week, Target is also offering free access to
virtual doctor visits for all team members through the end of the
year, regardless of whether they currently subscribe to a Target
health care plan. The company also announced additional extensions
of a 30-day paid leave for vulnerable team members, as well as free
backup care for family members.
"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," said Brian
Cornell, Chairman and CEO of Target Corporation. "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."
Investment in Team Members
All U.S. hourly full-time and part-time team members at stores,
distribution centers and headquarters locations will be eligible
for the $15 starting wage, which is
more than 25% higher than the U.S. industry average.1
Target set its 2020 goal of a $15 starting wage in September 2017, and over the last three years has
increased wages from a starting wage of $11. The last starting-wage increase was in
June 2019 to $13.
To recognize team members' efforts to meet guests' needs during
the coronavirus pandemic, Target was one of the first in the retail
industry to offer a temporary wage increase of $2 and kept the increase in place two months
longer than originally announced.
The one-time $200 recognition
bonus will be distributed at the end of July to eligible full-time
and part-time hourly team members at both stores and distribution
centers. This is on top of bonuses of $250-$1,500 paid
out in April to 20,000 hourly store team leads who oversee
individual departments in Target stores.
With the changes announced today, Target will invest nearly
$1 billion more this year in the
well-being, health and safety of team members than it did in 2019,
including increased wages, paid leaves, bonus payouts, personal
protective equipment and a $1 million
donation to the Target Team Member Giving Fund.
New and Extended COVID-19 Benefits
To support the health and safety of team members during a
stressful year for the country, Target will also offer free access
to health care through virtual doctor visits, regardless of whether
team members currently subscribe to a Target health care plan. The
offering is through the CirrusMD app and focuses on text-first
virtual health care visits for team members to securely text, share
images or video chat with a doctor. The platform will be available
24 hours a day, 7 days a week at no extra cost to U.S.-based team
members until the end of December
2020, so they can conveniently and safely seek medical
advice at a time of heightened focus on health and well-being.
Other benefits that will be extended include:
- Vulnerable paid leave for team members who are 65 or older,
pregnant or those with underlying medical conditions per the CDC.
Eligible team members who have not yet used this one-time 30-day
leave option will continue to have access to this benefit.
- Free backup care for all U.S. team members through the end of
August. The benefit provides access to childcare or care for
another family member, and Target will continue to waive co-pays.
By the end of August, team members will have been provided access
to free backup care for their family members for more than five
months. Care includes access to provider Bright Horizons'
center-based and in-home options for children or elder family
members that live with team members.
- Target will continue to waive its absenteeism policy and offer
paid leave options for team members who are symptomatic, have a
confirmed case of coronavirus, or have been quarantined due to
exposure.
- And, with the strains both of COVID-19 and social unrest,
Target will continue to support team members' mental health by
offering free counseling sessions, along with new anxiety and sleep
resources that have been made available to all team members.
"The most important investments we make are in our team. I have
tremendous gratitude for the way our team members show up with such
purpose and pride for our guests, communities and one
another," said Melissa Kremer,
Target's Chief Human Resources Officer. "These investments help
ensure that team members can build meaningful careers, take care of
themselves and their families and contribute to building our
communities through their work inside and outside of Target."
About Target
Minneapolis-based Target
Corporation (NYSE: TGT) serves guests at nearly 1,900 stores and at
Target.com. Since 1946, Target has given 5% of its profit to
communities, which today equals millions of dollars a week. For the
latest store count or for more information, visit
Target.com/Pressroom. For a behind-the-scenes look at
Target, visit Target.com/abullseyeview or follow
@TargetNews on Twitter.
1 Mean hourly wage for general merchandise store
salespeople: $11.92 (Source: U.S.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, May
2018)
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SOURCE Target Corporation