With a Target store in East Harlem, Target thank its workers who have persevered during the COVID-19 pandemic, Target will be giving out $70 million in bonuses as the holiday shopping season gets underway. The retailer said Monday that more than 350,000 of its hourly employees will get a $200 bonus by early November.
“In a year like no other, I’m proud of what this team has accomplished and grateful for the care and connection they’ve provided our guests and communities,” Melissa Kremer, Target’s chief HR officer, said in a release. “Target’s success this year is a direct result of our team members turning our purpose into action and meeting our guests’ changing needs day after day.”
This isn’t the first round of bonuses Target has distributed amid the pandemic. In April, the retailer gave 20,000 of its team leads bonuses ranging from $250 to $1,500. In July, the company gave all full-time and part-time hourly employees a $200 bonus.
Combined with the bonuses announced Monday, Target said it will have spent almost $1 billion more this year on employee pay. In addition to bonuses, the retailer has also added pandemic-related benefits like backup child care and permanently bumped its starting wages to $15 an hour.
Thanking frontline workers
A number of large retail chains announced that they would be giving out bonuses this year to thank workers for putting their health at risk. However, only Target and Lowe’s have announced that more bonuses are coming ahead of the holiday season. This month, Lowe’s doled out an additional $100 million in bonuses to hourly employees.
Health officials say this year’s holiday shopping season could potentially coincide with an increase in COVID-19 cases. The CDC has warned that cases could rise as temperatures drop and people spend more time inside and around other people reported Consumer Affairs.
According to the latest figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University, the U.S. has reported the most COVID-19 cases of any country with over 8,160,000.
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