T-Mobile raises minimum hourly wage to $20 nationwide
Officials with telecommunications company T-Mobile on Friday announced it bumped its hourly pay for employees to $20 nationwide.
The change took effect at the start of December, company officials told CBS MoneyWatch. A spokesperson told the news network that T-Mobile had no previous companywide minimum wage.
In a statement released Friday, company CEO Mike Sievert said the decision was aimed at giving every employee a competitive wage and recognizing current employees. He said most employees already make more than $20 per hour, especially when factoring in incentive pay. A company spokesperson told CBS that customer service representatives earn an average of more than $26 hourly.
>> Related: Hobby Lobby raising minimum wage to $18.50
“This move is about inclusion, and we wanted to draw a line that ensures no employee is left behind,” Sievert said. “This will now apply to every single employee regardless of role, or full-time or part-time status.”
The move was also aimed at bolstering recruitment. Callie Field, T-Mobile’s chief customer experience officer, told Bloomberg News last week that the company suffered from losing employees in what has been dubbed the “Great Resignation.”
“We lost a lot of staff,” she said.
Last year, T-Mobile announced an initiative aimed at hiring 5,000 new employees following its merger with the Sprint Corporation. Field told Bloomberg that the company is still recruiting to fill 5,000 jobs in the next 18 months.
“I will tell you, it’s never felt more competitive,” she said.
>> Related: Companies planning to give big pay raises for employees in 2022
Employers have been grappling with a labor shortage since the economy began to recover from effects of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, The Associated Press reported. In a report issued earlier this month, officials with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said the number of job openings nationwide increased by 431,000 to 11 million on the last business day of October with most of the increases being seen in accommodation and food services, nondurable goods manufacturing and educational services.
As of December 2020, T-Mobile employed about 75,000 people full- and part-time across network, retail, administrative and customer support roles.
