Financial company hikes minimum wage, extends remote work to retain Charlotte workers
Another employer in Charlotte is upping its minimum wage — and offering other perks to keep and attract workers post-pandemic.
Connecticut-based credit card company Synchrony Financial announced Tuesday that it would raise its minimum hourly wage from $15 to $20 an hour for all employees, effective in August. The wage hike will impact more than 5,000 full and part-time employees across the country and hundreds in Charlotte.
The firm is also offering another perk for hourly workers: the ability to continue working from home.
“We believe this investment... is going to create value for our business overall.” Ron Everett, Synchrony’s Charlotte hub leader and senior vice president of operations, told the Observer. “We want to create a new way of working.”
Synchrony issues credit cards for retailers such as Belk and Lowe’s. Most of its employees in Charlotte are hourly workers in the company’s call center, Everett said.
The firm plans to bring back a small number of vaccinated employees to its offices in Ballantyne this fall, he added.
Other minimum wage hikes
Synchrony is not the only Charlotte employer to announce a wage increase in recent months in a tight labor market where there is keen competition to attract and keep workers.
In May, Charlotte-based Bank of America announced plans to raise its minimum hourly wage to $25, up from $20 the year prior. The bank said the increase would cost hundreds of millions of dollars a year and affect thousands of employees.
Last year, Wells Fargo announced it would raise its minimum wage to $16 an hour in Charlotte.
And last month, Charlotte-based real estate development and operating company New Forum announced that it would raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour, WCNC reported.
Charlotte hospital employees got a boost when Novant Health raised its minimum wage to $15 in January. Last year, Atrium Health raised its minimum wage to $13.50, with plans to increase to $15 in 2021.
