Lowe's to Give Up to $1,000 Bonuses to Hourly Employees
Lowe's announced Thursday plans to enhance benefits, including expanding maternity and parental leave. The company will also offer a one-time bonus up to $1,000 for more than 260,000 hourly employees. Lowe's will award the one-time cash bonus to eligible full- and part-time hourly employees across all its U.S. facilities, including stores, customer support centers, contact centers and distribution centers. There will also be enhanced benefits for employees, including expanded maternity and parental leave as well as adoption assistance.
Total Retail's Take: Another retailer has come forward with its plan for how it will use the money saved from a lowered corporate tax rate. Lowe's, like its competitor Home Depot, will be investing its millions of savings into benefits for hourly employees, including paying one-time bonuses. Lowe's hand may have been forced by Home Depot's earlier announcement that it would be giving bonuses of up to $1,000 to its hourly workers, but regardless, employees are happy that Lowe's is following suit. Retail is one of the highest-taxed U.S. industries, so corporate tax reform has put brands in a position where they have money at their disposal that they weren't counting on. The question is what will they do with the money? Will they simply put it to the bottom line and share it with stockholders? Or will they use this infusion of cash to reward employees and make needed investments in technology and systems upgrades? Signs are positive that more are taking the latter approach. For more on this topic, check out today's Retail Right Now video.
