Dive Brief:
- Chobani, a food company known for its Greek yogurt, increased its minimum starting wage for full-time manufacturing and corporate hourly workers to $20 per hour, up from $13 in 2020, the company said Wednesday. Chobani has been incrementally upping the minimum wage. The company also plans to increase the amount it matches for employee 401(k) contributions.
- Chobani also announced it is working with WeeCare, a childcare network, to offer all full-time U.S. employees — manufacturing, corporate and remote — backup care credits and an annual cash stipend to use for childcare or eldercare.
- “The moves to increase our competitive wages and provide access to affordable and flexible care options were made to address key priorities we know are top of mind for our team and so many others in the workplace today,” Shari Eaton, Chobani’s chief people officer, said in the news release.
Dive Insight:
Chobani’s expansion of its total rewards is in line with a move toward broader, more inclusive benefits by companies across the U.S. to attract and retain workers.
The number of employers offering family support and leave benefits is climbing, according to a June report from the Society for Human Resource Management. That includes paid leave to care for family members, as well as paid adoption leave, SHRM said.
“In today’s job market, employer-sponsored benefits act as a key recruitment tool, but they’re also pivotal to the employee experience, and thus to retention, satisfaction and engagement,” Alex Alonso, chief knowledge officer at SHRM, said in a statement.
Likewise, a growing number of companies are rethinking their benefits to make them more inclusive to LGBTQ+ workers and to bolster DEI efforts.
Some employers are changing the name of maternity leave to parental leave to be more family inclusive, a learning officer previously told HR Dive.
And some states and companies are redefining what “family” means. For example, the California Family Rights Act allows workers to take up to 12 weeks of leave to care for a family member. As of Jan. 1, a family member did not need to be related by blood.
