By Kevin Short
Huffington Post, Nov 20, 2013
It's not just the bulk toilet paper and $1.50 hot dog combos. There's
more going on here.
1. The company pays a living wage. Costco's CEO and president, Craig
Jelinek, has publicly endorsed raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an
hour, and he takes that to heart. The company's starting pay is $11.50 per
hour, and the average employee wage is $21 per hour, not including overtime.
Most other big box retailers start their employees at minimum wage.
2. Workers get benefits. About 88 percent of Costco employees have
company-sponsored health insurance, according to David Sherwood, Costco's
Director of Financial Planning and Investor Relations. "I just think
people need to make a living wage with health benefits,” Jelinek told
Bloomberg. “It also puts more money back into the economy and creates a
healthier country. It’s really that simple.”
3. The CEO makes a reasonable salary. Costco's CEO makes far less than
most executives, with a total compensation package of about $4.83 million in
2012. In contrast, Walmart CEO Mike Duke made roughly $19.3 million during the
same year. Walmart's CEO earns as much as 796 average employees, according to
CNN Money, compared to Costco's CEO making 48 times more than the company's
median wage.
4. Costco helped its employees weather the recession. When the economic
crisis hit and other retailers laid off workers, Costco's CEO approved a
$1.50-an-hour wage increase for many hourly employees, spread out over three
years.
...
10. Costco's employees are loyal. For employees that
have worked at the company for more than one year, the annual turnover
rate is below six percent, according to Sherwood. For executives, the
turnover rate is less than one percent.
...
Copyright 2013 Huffington Post