Walgreens raising hourly wage of its workforce starting October

Walgreens, a leading drugstore chain in the United States, is implementing higher wage rates starting October of this year. It was reported that the company will be issuing a pay hike on its employees’ minimum hourly wage that will become $15 per hour.

According to Reuters, Walgreens just joined the growing list of companies that are raising their workers’ minimum hourly salaries. In July, its rival firm, CVS Health, also announced that it will be raising its staff’s wages but this will take effect in July next year.

Other retailers in the U.S. also made the same announcements in the previous months including Walmart and more. Even the fast-food and restaurant brands are also offering higher salaries plus additional attractive incentives and benefits.

Apparently, companies in the country are trying their best to lure employees to come back to their work as well as to attract new batches of recruits for thousands of job vacancies. The employment sect has been affected by the COVID-19 so fewer people are willing to return to work.

“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,” Walgreen Boots Alliance’s chief executive officer, Roz Brewer, said in a press release. “Investing in and rewarding our team members is not only the right thing to do, but it’s also highly important to retaining and attracting a talented workforce, and to continuing to serve our critical role in community health care.”

Then again, Walgreens is currently paying a $10 an hour starting wage and said that some of the staff are already earning at least $15 an hour. The firm’s employees can expect the full implementation of the wage increase by Nov. 1, 2022, as it will be done in phases according to the report. Walgreens is investing $450 million to support this pay hike in the next three years.

Finally, CNBC reported that the salary increase is the first initiative of Walgreen’s CEO since he was appointed to his chief post in the company. Roz Brewer was Starbucks’ chief operating officer before moving to Walgreens.