Synchrony Financial is raising its minimum wage for U.S. hourly workers to $20 per hour, resulting in a pay bump for more than 5,000 employees.
The credit card lender’s new minimum wage is an increase from its prior floor of $15 an hour. Synchrony also plans to fund its 2021 bonus program so that full-time hourly employees are eligible for a $1,000 bonus.
“We offer one of the most competitive wage and benefits programs to attract and retain the best talent. These investments allow us to remain an employer of choice now and for the future,” Synchrony President and CEO Brian Doubles said Tuesday in a press release.
Stamford, Connecticut-based Synchrony had more than 16,500 full- time employees at the end of 2020, including thousands of call-center workers, according to an annual securities filing. Most of the $96 billion-asset company’s hourly employees work in customer service, digital servicing and fraud specialization, a spokesperson said.
Synchrony’s announcement is the latest example of banks raising minimum wages in a competitive labor market — despite investor pressure to trim expenses.
Bank of America
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon noted in his shareholder letter this year that the nation’s biggest bank had raised its minimum wage for thousands of employees to between $16 and $20, depending on their location.
Across the banking industry, spending on salary and employee benefits in the first quarter rose by $6.2 billion, or 10.6%, from a year earlier, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
