ALEXANDRIA, Va.—York, Pennsylvania-based Rutter’s announced that it has raised its starting wage to $17 an hour.
“We did it again!” the company wrote on its Facebook page. “Rutter’s is proud to announce another wage increase, starting at $17 an hour!”
This is the sixth time the c-store has increased its starting wage over the past three years. The last starting wage increase was late 2021 when it raised its starting wage to $16 an hour. The company also gave its corporate employees a 10% raise.
"We have fantastic employees at Rutter's and want to recognize them for their continued dedication to being industry leaders," Suzanne Cramer, Rutter's vice president of human resources, said in a statement. "As the summer of 2022 gets going, we're thrilled to increase our wages again for our team members and field employees and want to thank them for their efforts!"
U.S. companies are fighting to keep retail workers. Apple is raising its starting pay for hourly U.S. workers to $22 an hour or higher based on the market. Microsoft announced this month that it is nearly doubling its global budget for merit-based salary raises. Target set a new wage range, with some hourly employees receiving up to $24 an hour. Starbucks announced last year that it will increase its wages at least twice this year, which would bring its starting pay to $15 an hour by this summer and its average pay to $17. Amazon Flex drivers make between $18 and $25 an hour.
U.S. employers spent 4.5% more on worker costs in the first three months of the year, the fastest rise since 2001 and exceeding the fourth quarter’s 4% annual growth. However, when those numbers are adjusted for inflation, private-sector wages and salaries fell during the period.
“The real thing to focus on today is inflation,” ADP Research Institute (ADP) chief economist Nela Richardson told CNBC. “What inflation does is it erodes the value of that paycheck. ... People are getting more take-home pay; it’s just not going as far as it used to.”
Richardson said that companies must focus on boosting worker flexibility and security, as an ADP survey showed that workers want flexibility over their time and more autonomy in their work.
“Our data shows that workers are willing to take pay cuts to get that kind of flexibility,” Richardson told CNBC.
NACS is hosting a series of three webinars in June that discuss innovative ways to address the labor shortage facing the convenience retailing industry. The second webinar, taking place next week, will be on how convenience retailers can implement flexible and innovative scheduling tactics into their operations.
Convenience retailers also can access the Good Jobs Calculator, designed exclusively for NACS and the convenience industry. This tool allows retailers to use their own data and customized assumptions about the amount of improvement or uplift achievable, and executives can run scenarios on the bottom-line impact of a Good Jobs system.
Look for “Understanding Your Local Labor Landscape” in the December 2021 issue of NACS Magazine for tips on building an effective employee value proposition and how to gain an edge when competing for candidates.