Macy’s said it will raise its minimum wage to $15 per hour by next May due to a tight labor market. The department store chain is also adding an education program that will cover 100 percent of tuition, books and fees.

The retailer said the investment is part of Macy’s “ongoing commitment to attract and retain talent critical to its continued growth as a digitally-led omnichannel retailer and to the execution of its Polaris growth strategy.”

Beginning in February 2022, Macy’s will provide a debt-free education benefit program to its employees, investing approximately $35 million over the next four years. The program will be available for all U.S.-based regular, salaried and hourly employees. It will cover 100 percent of tuition, books and fees for a wide range of courses for high school completion, college prep, English language learning, associate and bachelor’s degrees, boot camps, and professional certificates within Macy’s debt-free network.

Macy’s has partnered with education and upskilling platform, Guild Education, to build the program and help its employees learn skills, knowledge and experience to achieve their professional goals without financial debt.

“As we continue our transformation to be a digitally-led omnichannel retailer, a critical component of our growth includes investing in our talent and enhancing all aspects of their Macy’s, Inc. experience with a strong focus on advancement opportunities, culture and engagement. As a company, we’re driven by our mission to enable our colleagues’ success and be the preferred employer everywhere we do business, with competitive pay and benefits rooted in principles of equity,” said Danielle Kirgan, chief transformation and human resources officer at Macy’s, Inc. “This program removes a major barrier to accessing education and will help our colleagues to further develop their skills and grow their careers and earning potential.”

As part of today’s announcement, Macy’s employee’s benefits include:

  • The company will raise the minimum wage across all Macy’s, Inc. locations for new and current employees. It has already phased in the $15/hour minimum across several markets and will reach this target nationally by May 2022. This past summer the retailer completed paid increases to a $15/hour rate for all distribution center employees. Once all these investments are made, the average base pay will be above $17/hour and the average total pay will be $20/hour.
  • Macy’s corporate and hourly employees will receive one additional flex paid holiday and offer further flex time to take a day off on a holiday that is most relevant to them.

“At Macy’s, Inc., our commitment to culture and employee engagement has never been stronger, and we are energized by a 90 percent engagement rate in our companywide survey of our more than 100,000-colleague population,” said Kirgan. “By investing in our colleagues’ education and financial well-being, we’re determined to make it possible for them to bring the best of themselves to work every day and to enable them to pursue their own aspirations within and outside of Macy’s, Inc.”

“We are proud that our workforce reflects the diverse communities we serve and continue to focus on embedding D&I into how we think, act, and operate. Earlier this year, we released our Human Capital Report detailing our work and providing transparency for our shareholders, who are paying increasingly more attention to corporate culture. With these new investments today, we are excited to continue building on the strong foundation Macy’s, Inc. has built over the years,” added Kirgan.

Photo courtesy Macy’s