How Increasing Pay Can Increase Company Success

More and more, investors are looking at ESG factors (Environmental, Social, and Governance) to determine which companies are poised for success.  Social factors include customer satisfaction and employee engagement/labor standards.  We would argue that the two are related – and Jason Whitman, VP of Customer and Employee Success at Justworks agrees with us,  He was quoted in Forbes (May, 2017) as saying: “The key to achieving customer happiness, as in customers who want to do business with you again and again, is to focus on employee happiness first.”

In these challenging times, it has become clear that essential workers, those individuals most critical to serving our basic needs, have traditionally been the least valued and lowest paid.  And in the days of COVID-19, their jobs have become even more challenging with extra cleaning tasks and the ever-present anxiety that they, or a loved one, might get sick.

We would like to recognize several companies that StockSquirrel users could invest in who have instituted better pay for their frontline workers. (source: https://justcapital.com/news/essential-workers-remain-at-high-risk-on-the-frontlines-but-for-many-hazard-pay-has-expired/)

Target announced it was increasing its starting wage for hourly workers to $15 beginning in July – $2 over what it had been previously.

Dick’s Sporting Goods instituted a 15% hazard pay increase through the end of this year.

Dollar Tree has given frontline employees and distribution center workers a $2 per hour increase (due to expire the end of August)

Additional companies continue to have some hazard pay policy including: Bank of America, Capital One, Citizens Bank, Darden, Home Depot, Verizon

And here are our honorable mentions – these companies provided a short term increase in hourly pay that is no longer in effect including Amazon, AT&T, Campbell Soup, Chipotle, Costco, Dominos, General Mills, Kraft/Heinz, PepsiCo, Starbucks, Ulta Beauty, Walmart, Wayfair and Wendy’s.

Do you prefer to shop brands where the employees are happy? Share your happy employee stories on social media #StockSquirrelESG.