By Entrepreneur Staff
Walgreens will raise the wages of hourly employees to $15 an hour starting in October.The drug store chain expects the change will be fully implemented by Nov. 1, 2022. The total investment is expected to be around $450 million over the next three years.
One third of the amount will be invested in Fiscal Year 2022. Walgreens will partially absorb the investment “through the normal course of business,” said a press release.
“I am extremely proud and grateful of the work our team members are doing across our 9,000 Walgreens locations serving our customers, patients and communities each and every day,” said Walgreens Boots Alliance CEO Roz Brewer in a Tuesday statement. “Investing in and rewarding our team members is not only the right thing to do, it’s highly important to retaining and attracting a talented workforce, and to continuing to serve our critical role in community health care.”
This is the latest step by Walgreens to invest in its staff after implementing bonus payments and a hiring initiative during the COVID-19 pandemic. The company also accelerated implementation of a remote and digitized pharmacy service.
Minimum wage raises have been gaining traction in recent months. In April, President Joe Biden signed an executive order raising the minimum wages of government contractors to $15 per hour. Amazon also announced it was raising wages for half a million employees by another $3 per hour that month. That company had already started paying $15 an hour in 2018. In May, Chipotle, too, announced employees would make $15 an hour.
