These 40 Companies Have Raised Wages Due to Coronavirus

The coronavirus pandemic has turned the American economy upside down. Restaurants have closed their dining rooms, offering take-out meals and/or delivered food. Many businesses, such as theaters and hair salons, are shut down indefinitely. A record 6.6 million people filed for unemployment benefits in a single week in April -- with that record possibly surpassed by the time you read this.

Some businesses are still chugging along, though -- with more than a few advertising that they're hiring more workers, and many even raising the wages they offer. Here are a bunch of companies rewarding their workforce with more pay. Note, though, that each company's particulars are likely to change over time, with some extra wages expiring, some being extended, and new announcements for workers made regularly. So if there are any specific companies you're interested in, dig deeper to see what their latest news is.

Retailing titan Walmart is rushing to meet greater demand for its offerings. It hired 150,000 more workers recently, and is hiring 50,000 more. It's also boosting its minimum wage by $2 per hour (to between $15 and $19) through Memorial Day -- though that could get extended. The new jobs are mostly starting out as temporary ones, but many of those workers will end up with permanent employment there. The company also announced, in early March, a $300 bonus for hourly full-timers and a $150 bonus for hourly part-timers. In all, it's spending at least $180 million on extra pay for its workers.

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In the midst of the pandemic, Amazon.com has been making lots more deliveries, as consumers either choose to shop in stores less or are ordered to stay home as much as possible. Thus, Amazon announced not only a $2-per-hour wage increase, but also a big hiring boost. It has hired some 100,000 more workers, and recently announced that it will be adding 75,000 more to that. The company noted, "We are seeing a significant increase in demand, which means our labor needs are unprecedented for this time of year." The company already had a $15-per-hour minimum wage, so it's now advertising a "$17/hr or more" rate, with that higher rate running through April. It won't be surprising to see it extended further, too.

Starbucks, the coffee giant with more than 30,000 locations around the world (about half of which are company-operated and half franchised) and hundreds of thousands of workers, is offering more than just a boost to hourly wages. In a March 17 announcement, CEO Kevin Johnson noted, "It is the responsibility of every business to care for its employees during this time of uncertainty, shared sacrifice, and common cause." Starbucks is tacking on an extra $3 per hour for those working between March 21 and the end of May, and it's also paying all workers during that period, "even if they choose to stay home" -- for reasons such as being exposed to COVID-19 or being at extra risk due to age or health or if they're "feeling unsafe coming to work."

With more than 550 convenience stores and gas stations in several U.S. states, Sheetz is a significant employer, with about 17,000 people working in its stores. It's also a more generous employer, at least for a while, boosting those workers' pay by $3 per hour for work between March 13 and April 23. Management noted, "This special compensation is just one way to express our gratitude during this difficult time.” As with other increases, there may well be an extension later. The company is also providing free lunches for needy children in multiple locations.

Albertsons, the supermarket giant with more than 2,000 stores (bearing various names) nationwide, announced on March 20 that it was instituting a temporary $2-per-hour-worked wage increase, dubbed "Appreciation Pay." CEO Vivek Sankaran noted that, "In our manufacturing plants, distribution centers and in our stores, our associates are working tirelessly to serve our customers." The company also announced plans to hire some 30,000 additional workers.

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Retailing bigwig Target oversees more than 1,800 stores and employs more than 350,000 workers. And it's boosting the pay of its hourly workers by $2 per hour through at least May 2, while delivering bonuses of between $250 and $1,500 to some 20,000 of those folks who oversee store departments. The company estimated that the pay hike would give workers between $240 and $480 in extra earnings during the period.

With close to 2,800 stores in 35 states, Kroger is a supermarket giant, employing nearly half a million people and offering a $2-per-hour "hero bonus" through May 2. Many workers will also have more money coming to them via "a one-time bonus to every hourly frontline grocery, supply chain, manufacturing, and customer service associate, amounting to $300 for every full-time associate and $150 for every part-time associate." The company also expanded its emergency leave guidelines, allowing paid time off (up to two weeks) for those diagnosed with COVID-19 or those under quarantine.

With more than 200 warehouse clubs in 17 states, BJ's Wholesale Club recently employed more than 25,000 people. One of many "essential" businesses, the company announced some wage increases on March 23, tacking on an extra $2 per hour for hourly workers in its stores, distribution centers, and home office, from March 23 through May 2. It's also paying its managers and "key personnel" in its clubs and distribution centers a one-time bonus of between $500 and $1,000.

The supermarket giant Albertsons is parent to many chains of grocery stores, employing about 230,000 people in total. Safeway is one of those chains, and its workers are among those who got a $2-per-hour-worked increase that was announced on March 20. The company noted that the increase was for "all non-union and union frontline associates" and included "team members on the front lines, the company’s e-commerce pickers and drivers, store associates, distribution center associates, and manufacturing plant associates."

Chipotle Mexican Grill, with more than 2,500 restaurants and more than 80,000 workers, announced "assistance pay" for its restaurant staff, saying, "Effective immediately, we'll be offering a 10% increase in hourly pay for restaurant employees who work between March 16 and April 12, 2020. This assistance pay is simply one of the ways that we're expressing our appreciation for those who are willing and able to continue working during this time." The company also expanded its emergency leave allowances for workers and announced that it's not abandoning quarterly bonuses workers have earned, and it will be distributing $6.5 million in bonuses. Chipotle recently posted a solid quarter, too.

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You may not know the Conagra Brands name, but you're most likely a loyal customer of the company, as it's a top North American food business, with brands such as Birds Eye, Banquet, Healthy Choice, Slim Jim, Reddi-wip, Vlasic, and much more. The company announced on March 27 that it will be paying a $500 bonus to full-time workers at its U.S. production and distribution facilities, and a $250 one to part-time workers -- along with "similar" sums going to such workers in Canada and Mexico. The company has also been donating a lot of food to those in need.

Trader Joe's is another grocery chain responding to the COVID-19 crisis with enhanced pay. It has noted an "unprecedented increase" in business and has set up a "special bonus pool," which will be divided among staffers according to how many hours each has worked. (A Bloomberg Businessweek report noted that the bonuses averaged about $2 per hour.) Management noted, "We want to acknowledge the incredible hard work and dedication of our Crew Members in supporting each other and our communities by sharing the financial benefit of this sales increase with our store crew who have worked so hard during the past several weeks, and for as long as this challenge remains." Workers, meanwhile, are looking to unionize and are demanding more pay and protections, among other things.

In 2012, the Kraft food giant was broken up into a North America-focused grocery food enterprise -- now Kraft Heinz and a global snack and confectionary company called Mondelez International. You may not have heard of Mondelez, but you have probably enjoyed its Oreo cookies, belVita biscuits, Cadbury chocolates, Sour Patch Kids candy, and Trident gum, to name a few of its offerings. The company announced in late March that it was hiking wages by $2 per hour through May 2 for its distribution, manufacturing, and sales workers, with sales representatives getting a bonus of $125 per week. The company also announced that the increase applies to about 10,000 workers and that it would be hiring more people.

With more than 9,900 locations across the country, roughly 1,100 Minute Clinics, and about 300,000 workers, CVS Health is a giant drugstore chain. It's also a player in the national COVID-19 response, offering testing at various locations. The company has announced bonuses of between $150 and $500 for its workers who have to work at its stores, serving customers. It's also offering up to 25 fully paid days of child care. The company is hiring 50,000 more workers, and it's taking many people who have been furloughed from Hilton Worldwide and Marriott International hotels.

Discount warehouse giant Costco is another major employer, operating nearly 800 warehouses in America and about a dozen other countries. It recently employed a total of about 150 full-timers and about 100,000 part-timers, and announced that its U.S. hourly workers (including those in Puerto Rico) would be paid $2 per hour extra between March 2 and April 5. It wouldn't be surprising if the higher wage period is extended, and a letter from the CEO on the company website recently referred to premium pay as part of Costco's pandemic response.

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The Vons supermarket chain, along with Safeway, Jewel-Osco, Shaw’s, Acme, Tom Thumb, Randalls, United Supermarkets, Pavilions, Star Market, Haggen, and Carrs, is part of the Albertsons Company. So its workers, among the roughly 230,000 employees of the company, got a $2-per-hour-worked temporary pay increase beginning on March 15. Vons operates about 300 locations in California and Nevada, and has been hiring more workers.

The no-frills Aldi supermarket chain has 1,900-plus stores across 36 states, and employs more than 25,000 people. It announced in late March that it had hired 7,500 more people in the past week and that hiring was continuing, noting "We recently implemented temporary wage increases for those who work in our stores and warehouses to offer extra support during this challenging time." Those increases are reportedly $2 per hour and apply to its workers worldwide.

Founded in 1916 in Rochester, New York, family-owned Wegmans has grown into one of the top regional supermarket chains in the country, with more than 100 stores in the northeast. With around 50,000 workers, it's also one of the biggest privately held companies in America. The company announced that it would be giving its workforce a $2-per-hour raise during the months of March and April -- to thank them for all their hard work. The company has also been hiring hundreds more workers at various locations.

The Campbell Soup Company is more than just soup. Beyond its Campbell's brand of offerings, it also encompasses other familiar names, such as Pepperidge Farm cookies (including Milano and Farmhouse), Goldfish crackers, Snyder’s of Hanover pretzels, Lance sandwich crackers, Kettle Brand and Cape Cod potato chips, Late July snacks, Snack Factory Pretzel Crisps, Pop Secret popcorn, Emerald nuts, V8 beverages, Plum baby food, Swanson broths, Prego pasta sauces, Pace Mexican sauce, and Pacific Foods broths, soups and non-dairy beverages. The company responded to the coronavirus crisis in part by hiking the pay of its hourly production-line and distribution workers' by $2 per hour and giving frontline supervisors (and some others) a weekly bonus of $100. The company said that the raise affects 11,000 workers, would begin in late March, and would continue for "at least five weeks."

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Accounting and consulting services giant PwC is the product of the 1998 merger of PriceWaterhouse and Coopers and Lybrand. It's one of the country's largest privately held businesses, too, with more than 276,000 workers in 157 countries. It's a very different kind of business from the many retailers that are boosting the pay of their hourly staff, but it's responding to the global crisis, too -- by offering U.S. workers an additional $2,200 toward child (and elder) care costs as so many staffers will be working from home these days. The company also donated several million dollars to relief efforts.

Telecom titan AT&T encompasses many businesses, serving millions of consumers and businesses with TV, mobile, and broadband services and offering content via the HBO, HBO Max, Warner Bros., TNT, TBS, truTV, CNN, DC Entertainment, New Line, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, and Turner Classic Movies brands. The company employed around 246,000 people as of January 2020, and due to the pandemic closed a big chunk of its stores and announced a 20% bonus to frontline workers, as of March 25. It's also giving doctors and nurses three months of free unlimited wireless service and is offering relief to its customers, as well, promising to not cut off service due to non payment.

The Stop & Shop supermarket company has been around for more than 100 years and boasts more than 400 locations in New York, New Jersey, and New England, employing more than 60,000 people. In response to the COVID-19 crisis, it boosted union hourly employees' wages by 10% -- and is giving two weeks of paid sick leave and flexible hours to workers who have to quarantine. The company has donated more than a million dollars' worth of food to food banks, as well.

Bank of America, with about 4,300 retail locations and more than 200,000 employees (as of the end of 2019), announced in late March that it would not be laying off any employees in 2020, and that it would hike its U.S. minimum hourly wage to $20. It also announced $200-per-pay-period bonus pay for branch workers, along with reducing banking hours at branches. Bank of America also pledged $100 million for relief funds.

Price Chopper, operating supermarkets in the northeast, is another grocery chain that's been hiring more workers and upping their pay. In this case, the announcement was for an additional $1 per hour through April 19, which might have been extended by the time you read this. Like other supermarkets, Price Chopper is offering customers aged 60 and older an exclusive shopping period, from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. each day.

Facebook, with nearly 45,000 workers as of the end of 2019, now has a lot of them working from home. The company announced that it would be giving its full-timers a $1,000 bonus -- to help with expenses such as childcare. It clarified that contractors wouldn't qualify for it, but noted that contractors sent home to work would continue to be paid, even if they weren't able to do their work. Facebook has around 15,000 or more of those contractors, doing tasks such as monitoring content.

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JPMorgan Chase is a megabank, with more than 200,000 workers worldwide. Like other banks, it has been closing many of its branch locations, and announced that its front-line workers (such as bank tellers) would get a one-time $1,000 bonus and up to five additional paid sick leave days. The company has also announced $50 million in aid to help support small businesses and communities in the U.S. and abroad.

Redfin, with a market value recently near $1.6 billion, is a relative newcomer in the real estate business, born in 2006. In late March, Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman announced that he would take no more salary in 2020, that senior management would forego bonuses in 2020, that headquarters staff would forego bonuses in the first half of 2020, and that it would temporarily boost the fixed portion of compensation that its real estate agents earn. It also noted that it might have to furlough workers, though it's hoping not to -- but then in early April, the company reported a reduction of 7% of its staff, and the furloughing about 41% -- hundreds -- of its field staff. At the end of 2019, the company had nearly 3,400 employees.

TD Bank Group, managing close to $400 billion in assets as of the end of 2019, and with a market value recently near $70 billion, announced in late March that there would be no layoffs due to the COVID-19 crisis in 2020. It also said that it will be paying its workers who can't work from home a bonus of up to $1,000, along with giving them two extra vacation days.

U.S. Bancorp, with a market value near $50 billion and 69,651 full-time workers as of the end of 2019, announced in March that it would give its front-line workers such as tellers a temporary 20% increase in pay -- a move applying to some 30,000 workers. Since then, of course, many branch locations have temporarily closed, and the company announced in April that it will shrink its number of branches by 10% to 15% -- meaning that as many as 450 locations may be shuttered.

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Hy-Vee, an employee-owned supermarket chain with more than 265 locations across the Midwest, announced in March that, "To show its gratitude during this historic time, Hy-Vee, Inc. is giving a front line employee appreciation bonus to all of its part-time and full-time store employees. The employees will receive a 10% bonus on all their hours worked from March 16 to April 12." It also rolled out job protective leave for a minimum of two weeks and access to telehealth consultations with healthcare providers.

You may not know the name Yum! Brands, but you know the businesses under its roof -- Taco Bell, KFC, and Pizza Hut. Yum! Boasts more than 50,000 restaurants in more than 150 nations, and it and its subsidiaries employed about 34,000 people as of the end of 2019 -- paying most on an hourly basis. (Many more people toil at its franchises -- which make up 98% of all locations.) In March, the company announced bonuses of $1,000 to its store general managers, and said that new CEO David Gibbs would be donating his salary to an employee relief fund and to bonuses for managers. Gibbs was set to receive around $900,000, excluding bonuses, for this year. The company plans to keep paying those workers who have been sent home due to temporarily closed stores and it has encouraged its franchisees to do the same.

The H-E-B supermarket chain, with more than 400 stores across Texas and Mexico and more than 120,000 employees, has gotten high marks not only for its response to the COVID-19 crisis, but also its preparation for it. A Vice.com article noted that, "Before the WHO upgraded coronavirus to pandemic status, before the White House and most state governments announced any plans, and before there was even a single identified case in Texas, HEB -- the beloved, Texas-only grocery chain -- was preparing an emergency response plan it’s been refining since 2005." Along with boosting employee pay by $2 per hour, it also extended paid medical leave to those who contracted the disease and set aside many essential products for its workers. It also started limiting how much of certain items customers could buy early, reining in hoarding.

Outdoor-focused retailer REI, with 162 stores and more than 13,000 employees, has a letter from management on its website, saying that "We have modified our paid time off policies to ensure that our employees -- including hourly retail employees -- who miss work due to illness or to care for sick family members do not suffer loss of income or other benefits." Soon after it posted that letter, the company announced it was temporarily closing all stores and would pay its workers while stores were closed.

J. M. Smucker, with more than 7,000 employees and a market value recently topping $13 billion, is a food giant, featuring brands such as Smucker's, Folgers, Jif, Milk-Bone, Café Bustelo, Uncrustables, and Rachael Ray Nutrish. The company announced in March that "A one-time $1,500 hardship award is being issued to approximately 5,700 employees in manufacturing, distribution, and other functions where employees are diligently serving on the ground to ensure the delivery of food to fellow citizens." It's also offering up to 12 weeks of full pay to workers who can't work at their workplaces, along with 14 days of paid sick leave for those who are sick or must stay home for COVID-19-related reasons, such as caring for ill family members.

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Wells Fargo, with a market value recently near $110 billion, is a major banking force, with about 260,000 full-time-equivalent employees as of the end of 2019. It announced in March that it would be offering bonuses to its workers earning less than $100,000 annually (roughly 170,000 people) -- $600 for full-time ones and $300 for part-timers. On top of that, front-line workers, such as tellers, would get an extra $200 per pay period for up to five pay periods.

Global food titan Nestlé, with a market value recently near $314 billion and more than 290,000 workers worldwide, told its staff to brace for a storm, and announced on its website that, "We are also offering generous sick leave arrangements for those who contract the virus and will provide cash loans or advances for those in financial distress. All hourly and salaried staff affected by temporary stoppages will be paid in full for a minimum of twelve weeks."

Privately held Ocean State Job Lot, a discount chain with 139 stores in the Northeast, employs more than 5,000 people, and boosted the pay of hourly workers by $2 per hour. On top of that, the company is adding a 2% surcharge to prices, with that money going to bonuses for workers. Employees also get 30% off items in company stores, which include food and other necessities.

Cable giant Charter Communications, sports a market value recently near $114 billion and about 95,000 workers as of the end of 2019. It was planning to hike its minimum hourly wage from $15 to $20, but with the COVID-19 crisis underway, it's accelerating those plans, and has said that "An initial retroactive $1.50 increase will be implemented immediately for the company’s hourly frontline employees in the field and customer operation groups." It added: "The same field and customer operations hourly workers will receive another permanent $1.50 per hour raise on top of their March 2021 merit increase and charter has committed that in 2022, all hourly employees will have a minimum starting rate of $20 per hour."

Tyson Foods, with a market value recently near $23 billion and about 141,000 workers as of the end of 2019 (some 122,000 in the U.S.), sports brands such as Tyson, Jimmy Dean, Hillshire Farm, and Ball Park. The company has responded to the COVID-19 crisis in part by directing bonuses to workers, announcing $60 million for truck drivers and front-line workers.

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Cable and entertainment giant Comcast, with a market value recently near $163 billion, employed about 190,000 people as of the end of 2019. In March, the company announced it was setting aside a whopping $500 million to support workers who were temporarily not able to work due to the COVID-19 crisis. Several top executives donated their salaries to relief charities, too.

John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Selena Maranjian owns shares of Amazon, AT&T, Costco Wholesale, Facebook, JPMorgan Chase, Marriott International, Redfin, and Starbucks. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Facebook, Redfin, and Starbucks. The Motley Fool recommends Comcast, Costco Wholesale, CVS Health, Marriott International, and Nestle and recommends the following options: short January 2022 $1940 calls on Amazon and long January 2022 $1920 calls on Amazon. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.