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Bank of America revealed on Tuesday, May 18, that it will be raising the minimum hourly wage of its employees in the U.S. to $25. The bank is looking to implement this by 2025.
Why BOA decided to issue a pay hike
As per CNN Business, Bank of America believes that paying their staff more also helps give them a "career mindset" that would make them loyal to the company and push them to work harder too. As a result, the firm will be better managed and things will always go well for everyone.
It was added that if a company is running smoothly, its shareholders will also be able to get paid back. Thus, the pay raise is also one way for the shareholders to earn back investments through this scheme.
"It costs us a few hundred million dollars a year but it's an investment," Bank of America’s chief executive officer, Brian Moynihan, told CNN. “It is about maintaining a great standard of living for our teammates. The key is for big companies like ours to set a standard.
The bank chief added that they think this pay hike is also part of sharing the company’s success within the workplace and their communities. The last time that Bank of America issued a pay raise was in 2019 after increasing the hourly wage from $15 to $20 and 200,00 staff benefited from this.
Bank’s vendor firms also required to raise employees’ salaries
Moreover, the Bank of America will also be requiring its suppliers and vendors to increase their respective workers’ wages to at least $15 an hour. It has 2,000 vendors so the hike will give a total of 43,000 workers a pay increase. It was said that currently, 99% of these vendors have already complied and paying the said minimum hourly wage.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Bank of America joins firms like McDonald’s and Amazon in unveiling plans for giving higher wages. The mentioned two companies recently announced higher rates to lure workers to work for them as the economy in the U.S. slowly starts to open again.
