Make Way for the Middle Class

March 21, 2020, WRAL

Wegmans giving employees $2 per hour raise for March and April

Wegmans is giving employees a $2 per hour raise for March and April. A representative from the Wegmans corporate office confirmedthe raise and indicated that it was given as a gift from senior management to employees (hourly and salaried). “About 98% of a little over 50,000 people are eligible,” according to the company statement. Not only are they getting a raise during this time, the increase retroactively went into effect March 1 and will continue throughout March and April. During this time they will assess the situation and could extend the increase further.

Commentary
One of the things that changes as we move from “these times” (the Fourth Turning, Winter or the Crisis Era, per generational intelligence) and into a 1st Turning, Spring or “High” era (of increasing productivity, collaboration and good cheer) is the RETURN TO A MIDDLE CLASS EXISTENCE FOR ALL. This is a Millennial value and when they are the gen in midlife (when we’ll be in Society’s Spring again), they will bring back the middle class.

While I understand these pay raises to “frontline” retail workers a Wegman’s and workers at Amazon, etc. are for hardship pay and in recognition of the danger they put themselves in during these times, they are also laying a new cultural foundation of valuing the less skilled, the less elite, the Average Joe and Jane.

Starbucks Offers Free Therapy

U.S. Starbucks employees can now get up to 20 free therapy sessions

Fast Company, March 16, 2020
All Starbucks employees in the U.S. and each of their eligible family members will be able to access up to 20 therapy sessions a year, as part of a sweeping expansion of the Seattle-based company’s mental health benefits.

Commentary
Good for the employees, good for the brand, good for us all. Millennials, in particular, expect a safe working environment from their employers as their childhood and coming-of-age experiences of institutional protection extend into their working lives and relationships to employers.