Hobby Lobby is a company that deals with arts and crafts areas. Hobby Lobby is based in Oklahoma City. It announced that it will offer full-time pay starting pay of $18.50 per hour to its employees from January 1, 2022. The company has regularly set its minimum wage over the years. In 2014, the company revised its minimum wage to $15 per hour. The company hiked its minimum wage to $17 per hour again in October 2020. Let ua know more about that the Hobby Lobby-Know More.
In addition to this hike in wages, the company also decided to provide various benefits to its employees. Hobby Lobby will continue to offer medical prescription and dental insurance, it will provide a flexible spending plan and various facilities along with the recently revised wage. The employees will be benefited from the long-term disability benefits, and life insurance, and their vacation expenditure will be paid by the company itself. Employees will be paid personal time off benefits. They will be paid even during their holidays, religious services or support, and discounts on various services. All these benefits will also be added to the bucket.
Reasons for the hike
Around the 900 stores of the company were forced to shut during the covid period affecting the livelihood of more than 43000 employees who worked there. All these shops and stores were opened in July after the covid case came under control. Hobby Lobby came into the news when its various stores did not close even during the time when the corona almost swept the nation because they came into the business of offering face masks and sanitation supplies.
According to Hobby Lobby founder and CEO David Green, the covid presented so many challenges to its employees this year. He stated that they are inspired by the raise that came from several private companies that increased their wages to support their workers during the covid-19 crisis.
The move comes after various companies announced an hourly starting pay increase to $15, which will be fully implemented across the country by Nov. 1, 2022, while reportedly raising its minimum wage to $17 per hour in October. However, the part-time workers who earn $11 per hour, will not be eligible for this new hike. Also, the company didn’t disclose the number of employees who benefit from this hike.
Starbucks also announced that its workers will earn at least $15 an hour which will be increased up to $23 per hour by next summer. Starbucks announced that the employees who worked more than 5 years or more will receive up to a ten percent raise while those who provided two or more years of service will be given a five percent raise.
Meanwhile, the workers of CVS Health were offered $15 per hour by July 2022. The company’s pharmacy technicians and call center representatives will also be given additional increases.
Various economists and policymakers raised concerns about this and said that if the new raised wages will be applied even to the workers who earn less then it will really help in putting their minimum wage at a decent level.
The Legacy
Hobby Lobby claims to be known for its employees’ well-wishers. The company closes all its stores on Sundays so that its workers get enough time to spend with their family members and enough time to worship. The Company always advocates for the worker’s rights in the workplace and fights for their cause. In 2014, Hobby Lobby also sued some private companies which denied their female workers the coverage of insurance for contraceptives.
Founded in 1972 by Green, Hobby Lobby is known for its religious values due to which the company and its owners have been drawn to various controversies. Having religious affiliations, the company once purchased more than 5000 ancient Iraqi artifacts that are said to have been smuggled through the United Arab Emirates and Israel. Then a Complaint was filed against the company that caused it $3 million to settle the federal complaint.
Also in 2019, Hobby Lobby partially funded a historic clay tablet known as the “Gilgamesh Dream Tablet” which was looted from Iraq and out in the Museum of the Bible. These artifacts were seized then by federal police.
Conclusion
The hike in the wages of the employees by the various companies such as Walmart, Amazon, Costco, and Target motivated the Hobby Lobby to hike the wages to maintain its legacy as the well-wisher of its employees. It doesn’t matter what the reason was but the decision was highly praised by the various think tanks, economists, and policymakers. But the low-wage earners do not come under this benefit that invites criticism.
At a time when the federal minimum wage is around $7.25, which has not been raised since 2009, this kind of raise by the private companies will help millions of families to come out of poverty. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office once did an analysis in 2019 and said in its report that an increase in the federal minimum wage from $7 to $15 an hour by 2025 will help to lift 1.3 million families out of poverty.
Questions Asked
(A). How much is the minimum wage at Hobby Lobby?
Hobby Lobby announced Tuesday that it will raise its minimum full-time hourly wage to $18.50, effective Jan. 1, 2022.
(B). Does Hobby Lobby have seasonal employees in Oklahoma?
The Oklahoma City-based chain said it was hiring 11,000 seasonal store employees for the holiday season and raised its part-time minimum hourly wage by 18% to $13. Hobby Lobby, founded in 1972, operates 956 stores and has kept them closed on Sundays since 1998.
(c). What Hobby Lobby is known for?
Founded by Green in 1972, Hobby Lobby is known for its religious values that have sometimes drawn the company and its owners into controversies.
